MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

At least six killed in Honduran air crash

A mechanical failure is believed to have caused the incident

A Jetstream 32 twin turboprop aircraft of Líneas Aéreas Nacionales de Honduras Sociedad Anónima (Lanhsa) Monday plunged into the Caribbean Sea shortly after takeoff from Juan Manuel Gálvez International Airport in Roatán, Honduras, en route to La Ceiba. The aircraft, carrying 15 passengers and 2 crew members, including a Honduran-American singer-songwriter, Aurelio Martínez Suazo, a French woman, and two minors, failed to gain sufficient altitude due to a suspected mechanical failure. At least six people died, five were injured, and six remain missing.

Local fishermen and rescue teams saved 10 people, but search efforts were halted at nightfall, with low hopes of finding more survivors. Honduran President Xiomara Castro ordered an Emergency Operations Committee, and the Civil Aeronautics Agency launched a probe into the case.

The airplane took off at 7 pm local time from the Juan Manuel Gálvez airport in Roatán with the Guillermo Anderson International Airport La Ceiba in the department of Atlántida as destination when a mechanical failure is presumed to have been the cause of the incident.

”I have immediately activated the Emergency Operations Committee (COE) team made up of the Armed Forces, the Honduran Fire Department, COPECO, National Police, 911, Red Cross, the Health Secretariat, SAN, who have immediately arrived at the accident area....“ Castro wrote on social media.

”The public hospitals of San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba are already ready to attend to the passengers who were traveling in the accident. God protect the lives of the people,” she added.

Honduras Civil Aeronautics Agency (AHAC) said that ”in compliance with the protocols established in civil aviation, the AHAC has activated the Search and Rescue Commission (SAR) to locate the occupants of the aircraft.“

”It has also instructed the Accident and Incident Investigation Commission of the aeronautical authority to move to the accident site and conduct a preliminary investigation into the possible causes of the event,” the AHAC further noted.

Roatan Governor Hugo Varela confirmed that six people had died in the accident.