Ontario plane crash photos released

The Transportation Safety Board has released the first photos from Tuesday's plane crash in northwestern Ontario.

Four out of five people on board were killed in the crash at North Spirit Lake First Nation.

On Friday, the TSB released new facts from its onsite investigation.

Investigators found indications the landing gear was down and the flaps partially extended. They also found parts of the aircraft, including glass, panels, cargo and wing parts early on the 106-metre-long wreckage trail.

Keystone Air Flight 213 crashed on a lake about one nautical mile northwest of the runway. The Piper PA-31 Navajo then caught on fire.

Investigators found heavy fire damage in the fuselage and the right wing area.

The TSB said investigators will be looking at the engines and propellers, as well as badly-damaged instruments and radios.

The investigation is ongoing.

Availability of emergency services questioned

The fatal plane crash has raised concerns about the availability of essential emergency services on remote First Nations communities, after residents who rushed to the scene tried to douse the flaming wreckage with snow and with water pumped out of the lake.

"In the case of this accident, that just explains and describes what is a pretty atrocious emergency response system in those communities, where you're having to put a fire out when a plane crashes with snow balls," said Ontario New Democrat Gilles Bisson, who represents the area of James Bay.

"In places like Timmins or Sudbury or Toronto, we have emergency response equipment in our airports in order to be able to respond emergencies such as these, and we have people who are properly trained. None of that exists inside those communities."

Sgt. Jacquie George of the Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service said the force had an officer at the crash, but in these cases, it's always the community that is first on the scene.

Like many small reserves, North Spirit Lake doesn't have its own fire truck or ambulance.

"There is no structure or funding of any kind for people who are first on the scene to be able to deal with that kind of situation," she said.

That lone NAPS officer would have received word from one of the community members, zipped out to the lake on a snowmobile, checked out scene and looked for survivors, George said.

He would have administered any first aid possible and helped whoever he could, before having to go back to his detachment to find a telephone and notify his supervisors.

"As you can see, it's not like in an urban setting when something like this happens and there's an immediate set type of emergency plan that takes place," she said.