At the least 12 folks together with a preferred musician died Monday when a small airplane crashed into the Caribbean sea shortly after taking off from the Honduran island of Roatan, officers stated. The Lanhsa Airways airplane departed at dusk from Roatan, one of many central American nation’s major vacationer locations, headed for the port of La Ceiba on the Honduran mainland.
The plane “made a pointy flip to the proper of the runway and fell into the water,” civil aviation official Carlos Padilla stated.
“The airplane virtually fell on us. I used to be fishing,” a fisherman, whose title was not given, informed HCH tv.
The hearth division stated 12 folks have been killed within the crash whereas 5 others have been rescued.
Policia Nacional de Honduras/Handout through REUTERS
Dramatic video posted social media by the national police confirmed rescue employees carrying a survivor on a stretcher onto the rocky shore. Another 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. According to the Kennedy Center, 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 finest cherished 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.
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 stated.
Fifteen passengers have 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 stated.
Honduran President Xiomara Castro said she had “instantly activated” an emergency committee made up of the armed forces, firefighters and others to help the victims of the accident.
