Small plane lands in swamp
The pilot of a flight from Kanantik resort to the P.G.I.A. this morning had to make an emergency landing in a swamp near the airport. Fortunately, he got the plane, and the passengers, on the ground safe and sound. News 5 was at the scene.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
It has still not yet been determined what caused the Maya Island Air aircraft, a Britain Norman Islander, to go down about four miles from the Philip Goldson International Airport. But at ten-fifty this morning Captain Edgar Joseph radioed Air Traffic Control to report he was experiencing a loss of power and would be making an emergency landing. As the pilot and his six passengers got ready for the rough ride, nine men, who were working in the area, watched nervously from the ground as the plane’s engine began to stutter. They watched spellbound as the aircraft went down.
Justo Tush, Eyewitness
“The plane give a noise like it was shutting down then it pick up back again and it go down and go up again. And we said together that that plane was going to drop. So it took a big curve coming back and it goes toward the mangrove and then we see it gone down.”
The plane landed in thick mangrove and the rough conditions made it difficult for the men and arriving authorities to reach the site. Justo Tush says they were all relieved to see that none of the six American passengers, or the pilot were seriously injured.
Justo Tush
“They were sitting down in the plane and they said they need help. So we bring the luggage and then we back it to the place where we are working.”
While the men did manage to lead two of the passengers safely out of the swamp, a BATSUB helicopter airlifted a family of four away from the site.
The passengers, who had spent their Easter Vacation down south, were on their way to the Philip Goldson International Airport to catch a U.S. Airways flight back to the United States. According to Maya Island Air, the incident is being investigated by Civil Aviation to see what caused one of their planes to experience power failure.
Despite their ordeal in the air and swamp, all six passengers managed to make their flight to the U.S. this afternoon. The plane sustained damage to one wing.
