West Atlantic’s CEO & President Mr. Gustaf Thureborn told in a press conference in Gothenburg that the accident had taken place on Thursday night. “What should not happen and may not happen has happened,” he told reporters.
The aircraft, which was carrying mail for the Norwegian postal service, departed Oslo Gardemoen on its way to Tromsö and declared an emergency at 23:31 whereby the Swedish and Norwegian search and rescue teams were notified.
Two pilots were on board the aircraft involved in the accident. West Atlantic did not immediately identify the crew but said that the captain was aged 42 and from Spain, and the first officer was aged 34 and from France.
The crash site was located at 03:10 near the Norwegian border by the lake Akkajaure in the Swedish Lapplandsfjällen by air rescue services with support from Hovedredningssentralen in Norway. The search has been taken over by the Swedish police which are on their way to the accident site. The internal process is coordinated by the Company’s Emergency Response Team.
Route
Flight no: SWN 294
Route: Oslo – Tromsö
Crew members on board: 2
Type of freight: General freight / Post
Aircraft
Registration: SE-DUX
Aircraft Type: Bombardier CRJ200 PF
Year of manufacture: 1993
Manufacturer’s serial number: 7010
Hours flown since manufactured: 38 601:49
Total flight cycles since manufactured: 31 036
West Atlantic Sweden AB has operated the aircraft since 2007 and flown approximately 10 000 hours.
Crew
Age: Captain 42, First Officer 34
Employed with the company: 2011 and 2008
Flight hours: Captain 2 050 hours on type, total hours 3 173
First officer: 900 hours on type, total hours 3 050