The Tribune

By DANA SMITH

Tribune Staff Reporter

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

BAKER’S Bay Golf and Ocean Club said it was left ‘shocked and saddened’ by a helicopter crash on its property which killed one person and injured four others.

According to an eyewitness, the helicopter crashed near the club’s townhouses on Thursday after it was caught by a violent gust of wind as it attempted to land.

Reportedly the helicopter’s rotor blade hit the ground – flinging three of the passengers. The co-pilot was reportedly killed by the blades.

In a statement released by the Guana Cay, Abaco club, they said: “The entire Baker’s Bay Golf & Ocean Club community is shocked and saddened by this tragedy particularly occurring on a day that symbolises family and togetherness. Thank you to our first responders, staff, and members; their quick and decisive actions prevented further damage and injury.”

The crash happened at about 1pm, they said, with five persons on board.

“The four surviving passengers were evacuated from Baker’s Bay and are currently receiving medical attention,” the company said yesterday. “At the present time we have no update on the conditions of the four injured passengers. No staff or members on the ground were injured.”

As police investigations are still ongoing and for the sake of the privacy of the families involved, they said, no further details would be disclosed.

According to the Associated Press, Baker’s Bay employees helped pull the survivors from the wreckage. They were then taken by boat from Guana Cay to Marsh Harbour where they were met at the dock by a doctor and a private ambulance.

The passengers have yet to be identified, but a Florida TV station, CBS Miami, identified one as Jeffrey Soffer, head of top US real estate company Turnberry and owner of the famous Miami hotel Fontainebleau. He was said to be alive, but injured.

Dr James Hull, of the Marsh Harbour Medical Centre, stabilised the pilot so that he could be flown to Nassau by the US Coast Guard for admittance to Doctors Hospital. Two of the passengers were then taken to his Marsh Harbour clinic, while the third passenger was seen by the doctor at the government clinic.

Once the three passengers were stabilised they were flown by a private plane to the United States.

Acting director of the Civil Aviation Department, Ivan Cleare said yesterday investigators were still on the ground and an update was expected by 3pm today.