Four people were killed yesterday after a single engine aircraft crashed in mangroves shortly after takeoff from the Grand Bahama International Airport (GBIA).

Assistant Commissioner of Police, Emerick Seymour yesterday told the Bahama Journal that shortly after 11:00a.m. the group – two females and two males, all Caucasians – left the airport on an aerial tour of the island when the engine failed.

The Cirrus 22 plane was reportedly less than five miles west of the airport when the pilot told the control tower that the aircraft was experiencing problems.

“The last information to the control tower was ‘we need to ditch,’” Acting Manager of the Civil Aviation Department, Delvin Major told the Bahama Journal yesterday.

The tower reportedly lost contact only a few minutes after the plane went down.

Police, inclusive of the marine section and Basra scrambled to the crash site, but the four passengers were all killed and the aircraft was completely destroyed.

The victims are believed to have been on the island for several days.

The Civil Aviation Department was yesterday busy preparing a three-man team to leave for Grand Bahama this morning.
However, according to Mr. Major, the fact that the aircraft crashed in mangroves could impede investigations.
“Access to the site could be difficult,” he said.

“How difficult it is would determine if we access it by walking, by boat or by jet ski, how many people we take with us or if we need additional help from Grand Bahama.”