The only survivor of a plane crash that killed four in northwestern Ontario earlier this month tried in vain to save the lives of the pilot and other passengers.

Brian Shead, 36, spoke to reporters for the first time since the fiery crash Jan. 10 near North Spirit Lake First Nation.

"I relive it every night," he told CTV Winnipeg from the Health Sciences Centre Thursday. "I escaped with my life. I will never be able to reconcile how or why my life was spared while others were not."

He's been in the Winnipeg hospital since the tragic crash recovering from facial injuries and a crushed foot.

Shead said one moment he was reading a book and the next he was on the ground with his pleas to the other four, who were still strapped into their seats, going unanswered.

After several failed attempts to free them, he decided to try putting out a fire on the wing, but was unsuccessful as the flames spread.

"As the fire spread and began to enter the cabin near the rear of plane I made a final attempt at the pilot's window," he said.

Shead managed to unbuckle the pilot and pull him as far as he could from the wreckage before collapsing in the snow.

Band members from the nearby reserve arrived shortly and took Shead to a nearby nursing station.

"My heart goes out to the friends and family of my co-workers . . . as well as to the pilot," he said, adding that he will always wonder if he could have done something differently.

"I do not understand why this crash happened. I do not understand why it happened. I have no answers."

Shead works for Aboriginal Services Inc., a Winnipeg company that helps First Nations with administrative services.

The president of the business, Ben van Hoek, 62, and employee Colette Eisinger, 39, died in the crash. Also killed were Martha Campbell, 38, and 41-year-old pilot Fariborz Abasabady.

"I'm determined not to take life for granted. I will never be able to fill the shoes of the great people who passed away on that day, but I'll do my best to follow their lead," he said.

The plane was an eight-seat Piper PA-31 Navajo owned by Keystone Air.

It was landing when it hit a frozen lake near the remote community and burst into flames about one kilometre short of the runway.

The Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

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