Plane crash survivor recovering after surgery

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This article was published 18/01/2012 (5290 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The sole survivor of a recent fatal plane crash in northwestern Ontario underwent surgery on Tuesday, his mother said.

Brian Shead, 36, was the only person to survive a Jan. 10 crash of a Keystone Air Service Piper Navajo PA 31-350 into North Spirit Lake. Irene Shead, his mother, said he was undergoing surgery for injuries he sustained in the crash.

“In the grand scheme of things, his injuries are minor. He will heal,” Irene Shead said. “Other people have more to deal with than we do. Brian survived.”

Shead suffered a broken nose in the crash, which was stitched up, as well as injuries to his left ankle and foot, for which he underwent surgery, Irene Shead said.

“We have very large families on both sides, and we’ve had support from both my co-workers, my husband’s co-workers and all so many people,” she said.

The plane’s pilot, Fari Abasabady, 41, two employees of Aboriginal Strategies, president Ben Van Hoek, 62, and accountant Colette Eisinger, 39, and North Spirit Lake First Nation employee Martha Campbell, 38, were killed in the crash.

Shead also works for Aboriginal Strategies.

Irene Shead said the family is incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support they’ve received.

“The people Brian works with have been just unbelievable. They’ve been so supportive regardless, whether it was Ben’s family, or Colette’s or (Martha’s)… they’ve just been unbelievable,” she said. “People from Spirit Lake have been to see him, and his co-workers and the families. We can’t thank them enough.”

Brian Shead is the father of three-year-old twins and a six-year-old, who have visited their dad.

“(His wife Tracy Shead) has been terrific. She’s doing very well,” Irene Shead said. “It’s starting to become reality that he actually survived. It does take a toll because the initial reports were… bad. So it was a shock.”

gabrielle.giroday@freepress.mb.ca

— with files from Kevin Rollason