Eleven people survived a plane crash at sea and then spent five harrowing hours in a raft before they were plucked to safety in a “miraculous” rescue, officials said Wednesday.
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The twin-engine turboprop airplane, believed to be from Marsh Harbor, Bahamas, and headed for Freeport, issued a distress signal around 11 a.m. Tuesday, the Coast Guard said.
The craft went down about 80 miles from Melbourne, and all 11 people on board “are accounted for,” the Coast Guard said in a statement.
“And from what I’ve seen, I mean, for all those people to survive is pretty miraculous,” Air Force Maj. Elizabeth Piowaty, an aircraft commander involved in the rescue operation, told reporters Wednesday.
A team of Air Force reservists was training in the area when they got word of a possible downed flight and headed to the scene to find survivors in a raft, Piowaty said.
Crewmembers aboard an Air Rescue Wing HH-60W Jolly Green helicopter, based at the 920th Rescue Wing at Patrick Space Force Base, hoisted the 11 victims from a life raft to safety, officials said.
“They had already been in the water, in the raft, for about five hours, and you could tell just by looking at them that they were in distress, physically, mentally, emotionally,” Capt. Rory Whipple said.
The survivors had no way to communicate or call for help — but fortunately their emergency locator transmitter beacon led rescuers to the scene, Piowaty said.
Whipple said: “They didn’t even know that we were coming until we were directly overhead. So you have to imagine the emotional injuries that they sustained out there and not knowing if someone’s going to rescue them.”
The survivors were taking shelter under a tarp to protect themselves from the elements before rescuers dropped food and supplies to tide them over.
“They were able to spread out their food and water and some basic survival tools,” Piowaty said. “So giving them that extra hope that we were overhead and we were going to provide rescue for them, I’m sure, was a great relief.”
All 11 Bahamian adults on the downed aircraft were taken to Melbourne Orlando International Airport and were listed as stable, the Coast Guard said.
The airmen who rescued them fought both choppy waters and “bingo time,” the point when rescuers would be forced to either refuel in the air or head back to base for fuel, Lt. Col. Matt Johnson said.
“All of us deployed together in previous times on active duty, as well,” Johnson said of his fellow rescuers. “We know our job is efficient and expeditious, pick up of the survivors and get them back to higher medical care, and then let the doctors fix them up.”
Whipple said he was grateful for the chance to make a difference.
“As a reserve airman, I truly believe that we have the best job in the world,” he said. “On someone’s worst day we’re at our best, bringing everyone home. And then at the end of the day, as a reserve airman, we get to go home to our families, as well.”
