A minimum of 12 individuals together with a preferred musician died Monday when a small airplane crashed into the Caribbean sea rapidly after taking off from the Honduran island of Roatan, officers and native media mentioned. The Lanhsa Airways airplane departed at dusk from Roatan, one of many central American nation’s primary vacationer locations, headed for the port of La Ceiba on the Honduran mainland.
The plane “made a pointy flip to the appropriate of the runway and fell into the water,” civil aviation official Carlos Padilla mentioned.
“The airplane nearly fell on us. I used to be fishing,” a fisherman, whose identify was not given, advised HCH tv.
The hearth division mentioned 12 individuals had been killed within the crash whereas 5 others had been rescued.
Rescue operations underway within the aftermath of a airplane crash in location given as Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras, March 17, 2025. / Credit score: Policia Nacional de Honduras/Handout through REUTERS
Dramatic video posted to social media by the nationwide police confirmed rescue employees carrying a survivor on a stretcher onto the rocky shore. One other video confirmed the same scene, with police reporting that just one physique was nonetheless lacking as rescue groups continued their search.
Roatan fireplace captain Franklin Borjas advised the Reuters information company that survivors had been taken to a close-by hospital however offered no info on their circumstances. Borjas advised Reuters that the search and rescue efforts had been difficult by the terrain.
“It has been tough to entry the accident (web site) as a result of there are 30 meters of rocks and you may’t get there whereas strolling or swimming,” he advised Reuters. “The divers serving to with the rescue have zero visibility.”
Honduran musician Aurelio Martinez, a preferred member of the Garifuna music scene, was among the many lifeless, native media reported. In response to 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, the place he was greatest beloved for his tackle punta rock, the high-energy, Garifuna roots-infused pop style that took Central America by storm within the Nineteen Nineties,” based on the Kennedy Heart.
Singer-songwriter, guitarist and percussionist Aurelio Martinez of the band Aurelio performs onstage on the Hollywood Bowl Presents the thirty eighth Anniversary Playboy Jazz Competition Day 1 on the Hollywood Bowl on June 11, 2016 in Hollywood, California. / Credit score: Mathew Imaging through Getty
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 mentioned.
Fifteen passengers had been on the airplane, together with two pilots and a flight attendant, based on police.
The crash, which occurred about half a mile from the island’s coast, was brought on by an “obvious mechanical failure” on the British-made Jetstream 41, the police assertion mentioned.
Honduran President Xiomara Castro mentioned she had “instantly activated” an emergency committee made up of the armed forces, firefighters and others to help the victims of the accident.
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