At least 12 people died in a helicopter crash on Monday when a small customer plane crashed into the water while taking off from Roatán, a Caribbean beach off Honduras.
Legal aviation official Carlos Padilla confirmed that the Lanhsa Airlines plane was heading for La Ceiba on the island when it made a strong turn to the right of the airport and sank into the ocean.
” The helicopter nearly hit us,” he said. I was fishing, an witness reported to HCH broadcast. One rider is still missing, according to the fire department, while five others were reported to have been saved. According to local media, Honduran singer Aurelio Martinez, a well-known number in the Garifuna song field, was one of the deceased.
15 people, two aircraft, and a flight attendant were on board the flight. According to Major Wilmer Guerrero of the fire office, one of the victims, a 40-year-old European national, is being treated in a hospital in San Pedro Sula. Authorities believe an “apparent electrical loss” in the British-made Jetstream 41 caused the accident, which took place about a kilometer from the beach.
Xiomara Castro, the president of Hondura, stated that she had “immediately activated” an emergency response team to help with evacuation and restoration efforts, including the military forces and paramedics. While research teams continue to look for the lost customer, investigations are still ongoing.
