Florida: 11 survivors wait 5 hours for rescue after ill-fated aircraft ditched in ocean

• Eleven plane crash survivors had to wait a painstaking five hours in the ocean to be rescued by emergency responders
• The passengers drifted in open water with no means of communication, uncertain whether help would arrive as storm clouds gathered overhead
• Their woes had started when a Beechcraft turboprop they were flying in developed engine problems and tumbled into the ocean

Eleven people survived a terrifying ordeal at sea after a small aircraft suffered engine failure and crashed off the coast of Florida, leaving them stranded on a life raft for around five hours before being rescued in a dramatic military operation.

The passengers were travelling aboard a Beechcraft 300 King Air turboprop from Marsh Harbour in the Bahamas’ Great Abaco Island to Grand Bahama International Airport in Freeport when the aircraft encountered engine failure.

The pilot decided to ditch the aircraft into the Atlantic Ocean approximately 80 kilometres off Vero Beach, managing to evacuate all 10 passengers onto a yellow life raft before the plane went down.

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One News reports that three of those on board sustained minor injuries.

For the next five hours, the survivors drifted in open water with no means of communication, uncertain whether help would arrive as storm clouds gathered overhead.

They huddled beneath a tarp for protection as weather conditions deteriorated.

“They could tell just by looking at them that they were in distress, physically, mentally and emotionally,” said Air Force Capt. Rory Whipple, who later swam to the survivors during the rescue operation.

The emergency beacon from the downed aircraft triggered an alert that reached the US Coast Guard, prompting a coordinated search effort.

At the same time, a crew from the United States Air Force Reserve’s 920th Rescue Wing, already airborne on a training mission, was redirected to assist.

Air operations commander Maj. Elizabeth Piowaty described the survival as extraordinary, noting that ocean ditchings are rarely successful.

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From her aircraft, additional survival equipment, including rafts, food and water, was dropped to the stranded group to improve their chances while rescue teams closed in.

Moments later, an HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopter crew reached the survivors amid rough seas and began hoisting them one by one from the raft as waves reached up to 1.5 metres.

Rescuers said the last survivor was lifted just minutes before the aircraft needed to refuel.

All 11 were later transported to Melbourne Orlando International Airport, where emergency medical teams were waiting.

Officials confirmed that all survivors were in stable condition, with only minor injuries reported. There was no immediate sign of the aircraft wreckage after the rescue, authorities said.

The US Federal Aviation Administration has launched an investigation into the cause of the engine failure and the circumstances surrounding the emergency ditching.

What began as a routine regional flight ended in a fight for survival on open water, and a rescue operation crews later described as both urgent and remarkably successful against the odds.

Source: GossipsNG