The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

A 77-year-old American man is dead and ten other people are recovering in hospital after the plane they were on crash landed into waters near Clifton Pier early yesterday morning.

According to officer-in-charge of the Central Detective Unit, Chief Superintendent Paul Rolle, the plane, operated by Ferguson Air, crashed around 8.20am Tuesday morning about 550 feet off the southern tip of Clifton Pier.

The plane is a twin engine Piper Navajo Chieftain PA 31-350 aircraft, registration C6-REV.

Eleven persons, four Bahamians and seven Americans, were on board including an infant girl.

Mr Rolle said the plane, which was traveling from Governors Harbour, Eleuthera, to the Lynden Pindling International Airport, lost power and began to “fall from the sky”, according to eye witnesses.

The pilot, who relatives have identified as Captain Rufus Ferguson, realising he could not make it to LPIA, landed the aircraft in shallow water. 

All 11 persons on board survived the crash and were rescued with the assistance of divers from the Royal Bahamas Police Force, the Royal Bahamas Defense Force and Stuart Cove’s Dive Bahamas staff. However, the elderly man was pulled from the water unconscious and was pronounced dead shortly after he arrived on shore.

“Around 8.20am, a Ferguson Air Charter en route from Governors Harbour began experiencing engine trouble,” Mr Rolle said. “There were 11 persons on board including an infant. The pilot notified officials that he was having engine problems and went into emergency landing mode.

The pilot then attempted to land, bringing the aircraft near shallow waters in order to make a landing when he realised he was unable to make it to the airport.

“He brought it down about 550 feet off the southern tip of Clifton Pier. Everyone got out of the aircraft including the elderly gentleman. Two vessels went out the assist and get the persons out of the water. They found the elderly man unconscious and when they brought everyone on shore, he was pronounced dead. We are not certain at this time how he died - whether he drowned or not. We have to await the results of the autopsy but he did not appear to sustain any injuries.”

As for the aircraft, Mr Rolle said it “went over the edge” and disappeared.

He said: “It was really near the Tongue of the Ocean and it drifted and fell over the edge about 6,500 feet into the Atlantic Ocean. We were not able to recover it.”

The survivors were taken to Princess Margaret Hospital and Doctors Hospital, where up to press time they were all said to be in stable condition.

In a press release, the Department of Civil Aviation said the Aircraft Accident Investigation Prevention Unit is on-site conducting investigations into the crash. The statement also confirmed that staff from Stuart Cove’s Dive Bahamas were the first to arrive on the crash site, after which they initiated rescue operations.

This crash comes almost a month after Dr Myles Munroe, his wife Ruth, Dr Richard Pinder, a BFMI executive, Lavard and Rudel Parks, BFMI youth ministers, and their son young Johanan died in plane crash in Freeport, Grand Bahama.

Pilot Capt Stanley Thurston, co-pilot Franhkan Cooper, and 38-year-old Colorado resident Diego DeSantiago, were also killed during the crash.

That plane crashed just after 5pm on Novemeber 9 after the Learjet clipped a crane at the Grand Bahama Shipyard before going down in a nearby junk pile.

A memorial service for Dr Munroe and his wife is scheduled for today, followed by a state recognised funeral on Thursday at 10.30am.