An investigation has been opened by the Bahamas into the causes of the accident, which would have been due to an engine failure, according to American coast guards. Eleven people were saved after spending several hours clinging to a raft, following a plane crash off the coast of Florida. The American coast guards announced on Wednesday. Authorities received a distress signal on Tuesday morning from a small plane with propellers, which had made a forced water landing. “They were already in the raft for about five hours. It was easy to see they were in distress,” Rory Whipple, an officer in the air force, said the next day at a press conference. “They had no means of communication and didn’t even know we were coming until we were right above them,” he added. A crew from the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, already in flight for a training exercise, joined the rescuers to locate the group.
In total, 11 Bahamian nationals, all adults, were rescued. An investigation has been opened by the Bahamas into the causes of the accident, which would have been due to an engine failure, according to the American coast guards. “I don’t know anyone who has survived a forced water landing in the ocean,” emphasized air force commander Elizabeth Piowaty. “It is truly miraculous that all these people survived,” she insisted.
