At least 12 people have been killed after a small plane plunged into the Caribbean Sea.
The crash took place minutes the mainland-bound aircraft took off from the Honduran island of Roatan on Monday night.
The Jetstream aircraft operated by Honduran airline Lanhsa was carrying 14 passengers and three crew members, according to the country’s transport minister, who said the wreckage was found about 0.6 miles off the island’s coast.
A dozen people were killed and five more were rescued after an ‘apparent mechanical failure’ sent the plane spiraling into the sea, CBS reports.
Cvil aviation official Carlos Padilla described how the aircraft took off and ‘made a sharp turn to the right of the runway and fell into the water’.
A fisherman in the water below told HCH television he narrowly avoided being struck.
‘The plane almost fell on us. I was fishing,’ he explained.
Among those killed was popular Honduran musician and politician Aurelio Martinez, local media reports.
At least 12 people have been killed after a Jetstream aircraft operated by Honduran airline Lanhsa plunged into the Caribbean Sea
The crash took place minutes the mainland-bound aircraft took off from the Honduran island of Roatan on Monday night
Among those killed was popular Honduran musician Aurelio Martinez, local media reports
Martinez, ‘founded a Garifuna ensemble, Lita Ariran, one of the first Garifuna groups to appear on an internationally distributed recording,’ according to the Kennedy Center.
He later went into politics and was selected as a representative to the Honduran National Congress.
Honduran police confirmed that the body of at least one crew member had been recovered.
Dramatic footage showed rescue workers frantically working in the water.
‘It’s been difficult to access the accident (site) because there are 30 meters (98 ft) of rocks and you can’t get there while walking or swimming,’ Roatan Fire captain Franklin Borjas explained.
‘The divers helping with the rescue have zero visibility.’
The plane was carrying 14 passengers and three crew members, according to the country’s transport minister
Honduran President Xiomara Castro put out a statement shortly after the news broke saying she has ‘immediately activated’ an Emergency Operations Committee comprised of several agencies.
CBS reports that a 40-year-old French citizen was among the injured who was transferred to a hospital in the city of San Pedro Sula on the mainland.
