Coast Guard rescues 11 after plane crash off Florida coast
An emergency beacon from a twin-engine turboprop helped save 11 Bahamian adults who spent about five hours in a life raft off Melbourne.
A Coast Guard-led rescue pulled 11 Bahamian adults from a life raft about 80 miles off Melbourne after their twin-engine turboprop went down in the Atlantic and left them adrift for about five hours. The aircraft had departed Marsh Harbour, Bahamas, and was headed for Freeport when it reportedly suffered engine failure, and Bahamian authorities are now investigating the cause.
The first break came when the plane’s emergency locator transmitter alerted Coast Guard watchstanders at about 11 a.m. A 920th Rescue Wing HH-60W crew was already airborne on a routine training mission when it was redirected, while Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater sent a C-27 Spartan and Patrick Space Force Base contributed an HC-130J Combat King II to help search the area. The Coast Guard said Southeast District watchstanders and operational crews in the Miami area coordinated the response as the search unfolded over open water.
The rescue ended when the HH-60W crew located the survivors in the raft and hoisted all 11 aboard. They were flown to emergency medical personnel at Melbourne Orlando International Airport, where all 11 were reported in stable condition. The 920th Rescue Wing, the Air Force Reserve’s only combat search and rescue wing, said its aircrew helped locate and recover the group of survivors from the life raft near the downed aircraft.
Rory Whipple, an Air Force combat rescue officer, said the survivors were visibly distressed and did not know rescue was coming until the aircraft was directly overhead. He said dehydration was likely the biggest immediate threat, along with possible injuries from the crash itself. Elizabeth Piowaty called the outcome pretty miraculous, and the rescue showed how quickly an emergency over water can shift from a beacon alert to a live recovery when locator technology, airborne assets and trained crews converge at the right moment.
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