By Joan Humberto Suazo
TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) -A plane crashed just off the Caribbean coast of Honduras on Monday night minutes after taking off from Roatan Island, killing 12 people, authorities said, while five survived the crash and one person remains missing.
The wreckage of the small Jetstream aircraft, operated by Honduran airline Lanhsa, was found about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) off the island’s coast, according to the country’s transport minister.
“At approximately 9 a.m. the recovery of the last victim of the accident will continue,” Honduras’ firefighters’ corps said on social media early on Tuesday. “We expect better weather and visibility.”
According to the flight manifest shown by local media, the passengers included a U.S. national, a French national and two minors. The plane was scheduled to fly to La Ceiba airport on the Honduran mainland.
Well-known Garifuna musician Aurelio Martinez Suazo was among the dead, according to fire officials.
Dramatic video footage uploaded to social media by the national police showed officers and other rescue workers carrying survivors onto a rocky coastline, some in stretchers, as a nearby boat shone a bright light amid the darkness.
The cause of the crash was not immediately clear. The airline did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Roatan fire captain Franklin Borjas told Reuters the survivors were transported to a nearby hospital, while also confirming that the crash took place shortly after the plane’s takeoff from the island.
Roatan, the largest of the Bay Islands just off the Honduran coast, is a popular tourist attraction and famed for its vibrant coral reefs.
Borjas noted that adverse conditions complicated the search and rescue efforts.
“It’s been difficult to access the accident (site) because there are 30 meters (98 ft) of rocks and you can’t get there while walking or swimming,” he said on Monday night.
“The divers helping with the rescue have zero visibility,” he added.
(Reporting by Joan Humberto Suazo in Tegucigalpa and Ana Isabel Martinez in Mexico City; Writing by David Alire Garcia and Sarah Morland; Editing by Natalia Siniawski and Jamie Freed)
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