Tragedy struck on Monday when a plane delivering crucial supplies to Jamaica, devastated by a storm, crashed in Florida, resulting in the deaths of two individuals.
The Beechcraft King Air turboprop aircraft departed from Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport around 10:14 a.m., bound for Montego Bay. Shortly after takeoff, it plummeted into a pond within a gated Coral Springs neighborhood, narrowly avoiding nearby homes, as reported by WPTV.
Dramatic surveillance video obtained by Local 10 News captured the moment the small aircraft nosedived at high speed, damaging part of a fence in the upscale Windsor Bay area before plunging into the pond behind a resident’s pool.
“We just saw this black figure – it was a plane – going straight down,” recalled eyewitness Marcos Lima.
He described the aftermath as “pieces of the plane and body parts everywhere,” which he and others witnessed moments later.
Emergency responders were on the scene swiftly, arriving just five minutes after the plane’s departure, with the first call for help logged at 10:19 a.m., according to Deputy Chief Mike Moser of the Coral Springs-Parkland Fire Department.
No victims were originally found as authorities conducted rescue efforts, and first responders then shifted to a recovery operation.
Police have since confirmed that two people were killed in the collision and there were no survivors onboard, but did not provide any further details about the occupants of the plane.
No injuries reported on the ground.
Emergency crews sprang into action when a small turboprop plane crashed in a gated community in Florida on Monday
The plane narrowly avoided residential homes as it crashed into a residential pond
‘There was no actual plane to be seen,’ Moser said. ‘They followed the debris to the water. We had divers that entered the water and tried to search for any victims and didn’t find any.’
The crash shocked residents in the upscale community, where it cracked one resident’s rear window and left canned goods and mangled plane parts sprawled throughout the neighborhood.
‘We heard a big explosion, we we saw all the water rise up in the air, we ran towards it to see what happened,’ David Ubegi told NBC South Florida.
‘We saw all the parts of the plane and some body parts along sides of the houses, and when police arrived we helped them look for body parts.’
Federal records show the plane is registered to International Air Services Inc, of Nevada, a company that markets itself as specializing in providing trust agreements to non-US citizens that enable them to register aircrafts with the FAA, according to WPTV.
It had been manufactured in 1976, according to Federal Aviation Administration records, and is designed to hold between seven to 12 people, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
Flight tracking website FlightAware shows the plane made four other trips to Jamaica over the past week, but it is unclear who was organizing the trips.
Hurricane Melissa devastated the island nation of Jamaica last month
The storm ripped the roofs off of some 120,000 buildings in Jamaica, affecting some 90,000 families
Broward County in southern Florida, however, is home to a large Caribbean American community that sprang into action to collect relief supplies following Hurricane Melissa – a Category 5 storm that ripped the roofs off of some 120,000 buildings in Jamaica, affecting some 90,000 families.
One week later, more than 2,000 people were still reported to be in shelters.
The Coral Springs Police Department is now taking over the recovery efforts, as federal aviation officials investigate the cause of the crash.
In the meantime, police warned residents they may notice a strong odor of fuel in the air, which may take time to dissipate.
‘The city strongly recommends residents in the area to avoid being outdoors and keep doors closed for the remainder of the night,’ the department said.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
