2 dead after small plane on paper hurricane relief mission in Jamaica crashes in neighboring Florida
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A small turboprop plane on a hurricane relief mission in Jamaica crashed Monday morning into a lake in the Coral Springs neighborhood of Fort Lauderdale Subrings, killing two people after takeoff, authorities and a local resident said.
The Coral Springs Police Department confirmed the death in a statement Monday afternoon. But police did not provide more information about the plane’s occupants and did not immediately return messages seeking more information.
Coral Springs-Partland Fire Department Deputy, Mike Moser said emergency teams responded within minutes of the call reporting the accident. In the beginning, no victims were in a particular recovery and switched to reworking.
Moser said no homes were damaged, but crews saw debris near the retention pond. Local TeleVial TeleVial TeleVID footage showed a broken fence in the back yard of another home bordering the lake where the plane went down.
“There was no actual aircraft to be seen,” Moser said. “They followed a chicken trail in the water. We had various people go into the water and try to search for any victims and they didn’t find any.”
Debris scattered across the yard
Kenneth Detrolio told the South Florida Sun Seninel that he and his wife were at their home when the plane crashed behind them, destroying their palm trees before hitting the water. He said the impact left debris strewn across his yard and that his pool and backyard were “contaminated” with spilled fuel.
The smell of gasoline was so strong inside his home that it took several hours to dissipate, he added.
“We heard an amazing sound. I’ve never heard anything like it before, and obviously there was a place where this plane was supposed to hit between my house and my neighbor’s house,” Detrolio told this newspaper.
Broward County, where the plane took off and where the crash happened, is home to a Caribbean American community that is reviving the needs of Hurricane Melissa. A powerful Category 5 Hurricane, Melissa made landfall in Jamaica late last month, leaving a path of destruction.
Moser said police will take over rescue efforts, and Federal Aviation officials will investigate the cause of the crash.
He crashed shortly after leaving
The Bechcraft King Air plane took off from the Fort Lauderdale Airport at approximately 10:14 AM local time, according to a spokesperson for the City of Fort Lauderdale, which owns and operates the airport. The accident happened shortly after leaving, and Coral Springs police and firefighters responded at 10:19 a.m., just five minutes later.
According to Federal Aviation Administration records, the plane was built in 1976. King Air Models can seat up to seven men and women, according to aircraft owners and pilots.
Federal records show the registered owner of the plane is listed as International Air Services, a company that specializes in providing trust agreements to non-US citizens that enable them to register their aircraft with the FAA. A person who answered the company’s phone Monday afternoon declined to answer questions, saying “no comment” and ending the call.
Flight tracking website Flabane shows the plane made four more trips to and from Jamaica last week, traveling between the Ontolond Islands and Montego Bay and Negril in Jamaica, before arriving in Fort Lauderdale on Friday. It was not immediately clear who was planning the trip.
Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on Oct. Oct 28, tied for the most powerful land in the Atlantic Phenland in history. The storm also caused devastation in Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic and prompted aid agencies to mobilize.
