Aircraft crash off Caribbean island kills a minimum of 12 folks, together with in style Honduran musician Aurelio Martinez

At the least 12 folks together with a preferred musician died Monday when a small aircraft crashed into the Caribbean sea rapidly after taking off from the Honduran island of Roatan, officers stated. The Lanhsa Airways aircraft departed at dusk from Roatan, one of many central American nation’s essential vacationer locations, headed for the port of La Ceiba on the Honduran mainland.

The plane “made a sharp turn to the right of the runway and fell into the water,” civil aviation official Carlos Padilla stated.

“The plane almost fell on us. I was fishing,” a fisherman, whose identify was not given, advised HCH tv.

The hearth division stated 12 folks had been killed within the crash whereas 5 others had been rescued.

Dramatic video posted  social media by the nationwide police confirmed rescue employees carrying a survivor on a stretcher onto the rocky shore. One other video confirmed an analogous scene, with police reporting that just one physique was nonetheless lacking as rescue groups continued their search.

Honduran musician Aurelio Martinez, a preferred member of the Garifuna music scene, was among the many lifeless, native media reported. In accordance with the Kennedy Heart, Martinez based the Lita Ariran ensemble, one of many first Garifuna teams to be featured on an internationally distributed album.

“Martinez’s virtuosic musicianship and passionate performances made him a mainstay of the La Cieba music scene, where he was best loved for his take on punta rock, the high-energy, Garifuna roots-infused pop genre that took Central America by storm in the 1990s,” in accordance with the Kennedy Heart.

Among the many injured passengers was a 40-year-old French citizen who was being transferred to a hospital within the metropolis of San Pedro Sula on the mainland, Main Wilmer Guerrero of the hearth division stated.

Fifteen passengers had been on the aircraft, together with two pilots and a flight attendant, in accordance with police.

The crash, which occurred about half a mile from the island’s coast, was brought on by an “apparent mechanical failure” on the British-made Jetstream 41, the police assertion stated.

Honduran President Xiomara Castro stated she had “immediately activated” an emergency committee made up of the armed forces, firefighters and others to help the victims of the accident.