😱 A Mother Was Killed When A Plane Crashed Onto Her SUV — Her Daughter Somehow Walked Away
A devoted mom of two was killed in front of her daughter by a small plane that landed on her car while making an emergency landing on a highway — the kind of freak accident that feels ripped straight from a Hollywood blockbuster, but happened right here on a quiet stretch of road in Prince George, British Columbia.
It was Thursday afternoon, August 21, 2026, in Prince George, and the traffic on a major highway was normal — just another day of cars heading home, kids to practice, the usual rhythm of a city that borders the vast wilderness of northern Canada. Alex Garneau, 31, was behind the wheel of her SUV with her daughter Josie beside her. Josie was the younger of the two girls Alex had raised, a bright, active teenager who played hockey just like her brother and who had spent the last few years cheering from the stands while her mom quietly organized everything behind the scenes. Alex was the ultimate “hockey mom” — the one who made the drives, bought the equipment, packed the lunches, and never missed a game. She had big dreams for both her kids, dreams of watching them grow up strong, happy, and reaching every goal they set for themselves. She had a husband, Jordan, waiting at home. She had a life full of love and purpose.
Then the sky changed.
A Sekani Air twin-engine Beech King Air 200, carrying six passengers and two crew, was on its final approach to Prince George airport. Everything had been going smoothly until about 13 miles out — when one engine suddenly lost power. The pilot had no choice. He had to land, and he had to land now. No time to circle, no time for fuel stops. The plane was heavy, low on options, and the only safe place left was the highway itself.
What happened next is the kind of moment that makes witnesses freeze in disbelief. The pilot lined the Beech King Air up, tried to make a controlled descent, and brought it down with terrifying speed. The massive propeller and wing slammed into the road — and into the SUV ahead of him. The impact was catastrophic. The plane’s right wing sheared straight through the roof of Alex’s vehicle, crushing the roof and the rear section like a tin can. Glass exploded everywhere. The SUV was folded, the engine block mangled, the entire top section ripped off in a single horrific crash.
Alex Garneau and her daughter Josie were in the passenger seats. In the split second of impact, the force was so violent that Josie walked away “most unharmed,” her friends later confirmed. She was dazed but alive, shaken but walking. The rest of the family would learn the details in the hours that followed. Alex — the wife, the mother, the hockey mom who had driven the kids to every practice and every game — did not. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Her life, cut far too short.
The other three vehicles on the highway weren’t spared either. The plane’s impact tore through the road like a tornado, hitting four cars total. One driver, Jaime Pawliuk, described the moment his sunroof exploded above him. “All of a sudden it was on top of me,” he told CBC. “I tried to swerve as much as I could to get into the ditch, but unfortunately I was only able to make it just a little ways before the wing just sheared the entire top of my vehicle off and showered me with glass.” He walked away with superficial cuts and glass in his hair, but he was alive. Another driver, Mohit Arora, watched the propeller blade stop just 10 feet in front of his car — a miracle he still can’t fully explain. Ten people were assessed at the scene. Two were hospitalized in stable condition. Everyone else walked away. The chaos lasted only minutes, but the memory of it will last a lifetime.
Alex’s friends didn’t waste a single second telling the world who she was. A Facebook fundraiser launched immediately, raising money for the family and honoring the woman who meant so much to so many. “She was the kind of person who was behind the scenes of almost every team and activity her kids were part of,” her friends wrote. “She made the drive. She organized. She cheered. She made things happen.” They described her as the friend who always had your back, the one who made you feel like you belonged, the woman who threw the best parties and never turned down a call for help. “For some of us, she offered something that is difficult to find: family,” they said. “She didn’t need to have known you your whole life to make you feel like you belonged in hers.”
Alex was more than a mom. She was a wife, a daughter-in-law, a hockey mom who lived for her kids. She had big dreams — dreams of watching Josie and Jackson grow into incredible adults, of seeing them play the game they loved, of building a future full of laughter and milestones. None of that happened. In the blink of an eye, the life she had built was gone. The woman who always put her kids first, who organized the team photos, who drove them to the rink even on the coldest nights, was taken from them forever.
The Sekani Air plane was operated by the regional carrier that serves northern British Columbia. The Beech King Air is a sturdy aircraft, but when an engine fails at low altitude, every pilot knows the stakes are life and death. The investigation by Transport Canada is already under way, and it could take months before the final report is public. The cause of the engine failure — whether mechanical, pilot error, weather, or something else entirely — will be dissected carefully. But the crash itself has already become a symbol of how quickly the ordinary can turn extraordinary.
And in the middle of it all was Alex Garneau — a 31-year-old mother who was supposed to be the one driving her daughter home, not the one who ended up on the highway in a mangled SUV. Her daughter Josie walked away. Her husband Jordan is left to raise their two children alone. The hockey community is stunned — because Alex was the glue that held the teams together, the woman who made every game feel like a family event.
The GoFundMe is already attracting support from across Canada and beyond. People who never met Alex are donating to help Jordan and the kids with the mountain of bills, the rent, the lost income, the simple things that will never be the same. Because this wasn’t just a tragedy on a highway. It was a mother lost in front of her daughter. It was a hockey mom who never missed a practice, who always showed up, now gone.
Witnesses are still shaking their heads. “It’s something you only see in movies,” one driver said. Another called it “absolutely unbelievable.” The plane came down after engine trouble, the wing sheared the roof off, the impact was so violent the cars were folded like paper. And in the wreckage stood Alex Garneau — the mom, the wife, the friend, the heart of her family — dead before anyone could even process what had just happened.
Her friends say she made everyone feel like family. She supported them, cheered for them, organized everything. Now the kids she loved so fiercely are left to grow up without her. Jordan is left to raise two children who lost their best friend and their mom in a single afternoon. The hockey rinks where she once drove them will feel strangely empty. The dreams she had for them will never be realized the way she planned.
This is the story of a freak accident that should never have happened — but did, on a quiet highway in Prince George. A plane forced to land by a failed engine. A mother killed instantly. Her daughter walking away from the wreckage. A family forever changed.
The investigation continues. The plane is still being examined. The highway is still cordoned off. But the memory of Alex Garneau will live on — in the stories her friends tell, in the money raised for her family, in the hearts of every hockey mom and every daughter who will now understand, a little better, what it means to lose the person who made everything possible.
She was the one who always had your back. She was the friend who made you feel like you belonged. She was the hockey mom who drove the kids everywhere and made every game feel special. And in one moment on one highway, that life ended.
Her children are incredible people. They play hockey. They have big dreams. But now they have to grow up without their mom. Jordan has to raise them alone. And the rest of us are left with the image of a mom killed in front of her daughter by a plane that landed on her car — the kind of nightmare that makes you question everything about how safe the world really is.
But in the middle of the grief, there is also something else. There is the community that has shown up for Alex and her family. There is the fundraiser that is helping them through the hardest days. There is the memory of a woman who organized, cheered, made things happen, and always put her kids first.
This is the story of Alex Garneau. A devoted mom of two. A hockey mom. A wife. A friend who made everyone feel like family. A woman who was behind the scenes of everything her kids loved — until a plane making an emergency landing on a highway took her from them in an instant.
Her daughter Josie walked away. Her son Jackson will grow up knowing what a good mom he had. Jordan will carry the weight of raising two kids without her. And the whole city of Prince George will never be the same.
Because one afternoon, one plane, one highway collision changed everything. And in the wreckage, a mother was gone — but her love, her heart, and her family will live on in the people she left behind.
The investigation will find answers about the plane. The highway will reopen. The kids will play hockey again. But Alex Garneau’s story is already written in the hearts of everyone who ever knew her — and in the quiet way her friends still say her name, reminding us that some lives leave an imprint that no crash can ever erase.
This is a tragedy that will haunt Prince George for years. But it is also a reminder of the strength of families, the power of community, and the kind of mom who makes the impossible feel possible — until one moment turns it all upside down.
And in the end, that is what this story is really about: a mom killed in a freak accident, a daughter left behind, and a city that will never forget the woman who always had their back.
The plane came down. The cars were mangled. The highway will heal. But Alex Garneau — the mom, the wife, the friend — is gone. And the world is a little less whole because of it.
