OTTAWA, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Canada's Northwest Territories Coroner Service on Wednesday confirmed the death of four passengers and two Northwestern Air Lease crew members in a charter plane that crashed early Tuesday in northern Canada.

       The provincial coroner service said in a media release that there was one survivor who was taken to the Fort Smith Health Center and then medevaced to Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife, the capital city of the Northwest Territories.

       The plane that can carry 19 passengers lost contact shortly after taking off Tuesday morning near Fort Smith, a town about 740 km south of Yellowknife.

       Rio Tinto, a multinational mining corporation, confirmed Tuesday night that the plane was on its way to the Diavik diamond mine at the time of the crash, carrying Diavik workers.

       "We have been informed by authorities that a plane on its way to our Diavik mine, carrying a number of our people, crashed near Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, Canada, resulting in fatalities," Rio Tinto Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm said in a statement. "We are working closely with authorities and will help in any way we can with their efforts to find out exactly what has happened."

       The coroner service said it is investigating the crash and will be working with local resources to access the site and begin the recovery process.

       All next of kin notifications have been completed by the police, the coroner service added.

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