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Reeling from news of a deadly accident that, in a strange twist of fate, touched both of their organizations in a personal way, top officials at the NTSB and the FAA were also facing the prospect of having to probe the piloting actions of two of their own employees.

After discussions between NTSB chairman Deborah Hersman and the FAA’s acting administrator Michael Huerta, the agencies turned to Canada for its help in carrying out an impartial investigation of the crash.

“This accident hits especially close to home,” Hersman said in a Tuesday announcement about the crash, adding she was “grateful” to TSB-Canada chair Wendy Tadros for promptly agreeing to send an investigation team to the Virginia crash site.

“The NTSB stands ready to support and assist them in any way we can,” added Hersman.

The Canadian agency later issued its own statement explaining it was undertaking the probe on U.S. soil because of the “special circumstances” surrounding the crash — namely, the coincidence of the NTSB’s top medical official and an FAA investigator accidentally crashing their planes into each other.

“We’re going to lead the investigation,” said TSB spokesman Chris Krepski, adding that the gathering of evidence, analysis of the wreckage and drawing of conclusions about what happened “will be carried out under Canadian law.”

He said it’s not unusual for Canadian investigators to be involved in a secondary capacity in a case outside of this country. Whenever an aircraft that’s Canadian-built, Canadian-registered or with Canadians on board is in an accident in the U.S. or elsewhere, the TSB is typically tapped for its expertise.