A small turboprop plane carrying hurricane relief supplies bound for Jamaica crashed into a pond in a residential area of Fort Lauderdale, outside Coral Springs, minutes after takeoff Monday morning, authorities said.
Fire officials told The Associated Press that no victims were found during rescue efforts and the search became a recovery effort. It was not immediately clear how many people were on the plane.
Coral Springs-Parkland Fire Department Deputy Chief Mike Moser said crews responded within minutes of a call reporting the crash. He said no homes were damaged, but workers found some debris near the reservoir. Local aviation television footage also showed a broken fence in the backyard of a home next to a pond near where the plane crashed.
“We didn’t see any actual planes,” Moser said. “They followed a path of debris to a body of water. We had divers go into the water and try to search for victims, but we couldn’t find anyone.”
Broward County, where the plane took off and the crash occurred, is home to a vibrant Caribbean American community that began collecting relief supplies in the wake of Hurricane Melissa. Powerful Category 5 Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica late last month, leaving a trail of destruction behind.
Moser said police will take over recovery efforts and federal aviation authorities will investigate the cause of the crash.
Coral Springs police did not immediately respond to calls and emails from The Associated Press.
The small Beechcraft King Air plane took off from Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport around 10:14 a.m., according to a spokesperson for the city of Fort Lauderdale, which owns and operates the airport. The crash occurred shortly after takeoff, and Coral Springs police officers and firefighters responded just five minutes later at 10:19 a.m.
The plane was manufactured in 1976, according to Federal Aviation Administration records. According to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, King Air models can seat seven to 12 people.
Federal records list the plane’s registered owner as International Air Services, a company that advertises itself as specializing in providing non-U.S. citizens with trust agreements that allow them to register their aircraft with the FAA. A company official who answered the phone Monday afternoon refused to answer reporters’ questions, said “no comment” and hung up.
Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on October 28, making it tied for the strongest hurricane ever to make landfall in the Atlantic Ocean. The storm also caused devastating damage in Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, prompting relief efforts to be called in.
Jamaican local government officials announced days after the storm that Melissa had ripped the roofs off 120,000 buildings and affected about 90,000 homes in the island’s hardest-hit western region. A week after Melissa landed in Jamaica, more than 2,000 people are still reported to be in evacuation centers.
