KINGSVILLE -- A veteran Chatham police officer and a well-known Chatham-Kent doctor are among the 10 people who died after a plane crashed into icy waters off Pelee Island. OPP divers are expected to begin searching today for the wreckage of the Cessna 208B Caravan plane and the bodies of nine passengers and the pilot.

The single-engine plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Pelee Island about 4:30 p.m. Saturday, scattering debris on top of the ice before sinking to the bottom of Lake Erie.

"It is now believed that all 10 people on board the plane are deceased," said Chatham-Kent OPP Sgt. Doug Babbitt, commander of the recovery unit, at a news conference yesterday in Kingsville.

Chatham-Kent police Staff Sgt. Tom Reeve, 49, his brother, Ted Reeve, 53, physician Jim Allen, 51, and Robert Brisco, 46, are the four Chatham-Kent men who died in the crash while returning from a hunting trip with four other men they knew, police said.

The pilot, who was flying the plane for Georgian Express, and his female friend also were killed.

London sports medicine specialist Dr. Peter Fowler has fond memories of Allen, a standout football tackle at Westminster secondary school and member of the University of Western Ontario Mustangs team that won the Vanier Cup in 1971.

"He was a great, friendly man, a big bruiser of a guy," Fowler said.

Staff Sgt. Reeve would have celebrated his 30th anniversary with Chatham police in June.

Chatham-Kent police Chief Carl Herder, who had coached hockey with Reeve for 15 years, said the crash left its mark on his colleagues.

"(We) are saddened by the news," he said, noting Reeve had risen through his three-decade career to the rank of staff sergeant in charge of the traffic and marine safety unit.

"(Tom) has been a valuable member of this service since 1974."

In addition to the four Chatham-Kent men, six others -- five men and one woman -- were killed.

They are identified by police as Fred Freitas, 38, and Larry Janik, 48, both of Kingsville; Ronald Spencler, 53, and Walter Sadowski, 48, both of Windsor; pilot Wayne Price, 32, of Richmond Hill, and his friend, Jamie Levine, 28, of Los Angeles.

All four Chatham-Kent men were prominent in the community and the deaths left many, including Reeve's colleagues, reeling yesterday.

As Chatham residents try to cope, victim support services have been set up.

"It's a difficult time for everybody," said Pam Fusullo, director of Chatham-Kent Victim Services.

"It's a smaller community, so people tend to know most people in the community. People who have become aware of the situation (are expressing) shock, disbelief, confusion, all of that."

The fatal trek began about 4:40 p.m. Saturday when the plane -- owned by Mississauga charter company Georgian Express -- left Pelee Island for Windsor airport.

Minutes later, Price made a call to Windsor, then contact was lost. The plane crashed about 500 metres from the island.

Transportation Safety Board of Canada investigator Don Enns said it isn't clear whether the plane crashed through the ice or landed on the ice and skidded before eventually breaking through.

But it is clear, Babbitt said, the aircraft wasn't in the air long. He couldn't comment on the nature of the pilot's call.

U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Neah Bay located the crash site Saturday night and stayed there until 1 p.m. yesterday, when rescue efforts were called off. Shifting ice allowed the six-year-old plane to sink in about eight metres of water.

While the focus turned yesterday to recovering the bodies and wreckage, the effort wasn't expected to start until today, Babbitt said.

"It is unlikely that any substantial work at the site will occur Sunday," he said yesterday. "This is due to the complexity of the dive, the extreme cold water and the location of the crash. Extensive planning is needed before this dive can commence."

A Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker was expected to arrive from Sault Ste. Marie last night. It will serve as a platform for the OPP dive unit coming from Gravenhurst.

While bad weather forced Pelee Island's airport to close shortly after Saturday's tragedy, officials said it wasn't clear what had caused the crash. But the role of weather will be part of the investigation, Enns said.

"As soon as you have degraded performance in any function, whether it's ice on the wings or any other factor . . . all of these things play a significant part," he said. "They will all have to be answered during the course of this investigation."

Georgian Express president Paul Mulrooney expressed his regret in a statement posted on the company's website.

"On behalf of the staff and management of Georgian Express, I wish to extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of those who perished on Georgian Express Flight 0126," the statement read.