A seaplane pilot’s life was saved by Montreal Canadiens player Paul Byron after the aircraft crashed into a lake in Quebec over the weekend.
The forward, his brother-in-law, father-in-law, and a family friend were out fishing on Lac des Sables lake on Saturday when they saw the aircraft fall from the sky and crash into the water.
According to the Canadian French-language sports network RDS, the aircraft collapsed in shallow water, but Byron, his family, and another onlooker were able to get inside and rescue the man to safety.
Neal Leblond, the brother-in-law of Paul Byron, posted pictures of the wrecked plane on Facebook along with the French caption, “Quiet morning fishing with Paul Byron [and] Jonathan Legault turned into a rescue of a man who crashed a plane a few feet away from us.”
But Serge Labelle was acknowledged by Byron and Leblond as the real hero who saved the pilot.
Labelle witnessed the seaplane crash while operating a jet ski on the lake. He was the first to arrive to the aircraft and extricated the pilot. Then, Byron and his crew hurried to assist with the rescue operation.
Authorities informed the sports source on Saturday that the plane’s only occupant, the pilot, was taken to a local hospital in critical condition but is likely to survive.
Authorities are looking into what caused the collision.