A military rescue crew in Florida has described the survival of all 11 people from a plane crash in the Atlantic Ocean as "pretty miraculous," also revealing their own race to safety with just five minutes of fuel remaining.
Rescue Operation Details
Members of the 920th Rescue Wing, based at Patrick Space Force Base near Cape Canaveral, rushed on Tuesday to reach the passengers and crew in rough seas. The survivors had been aboard a small Beechcraft twin-propeller aircraft that made an emergency landing in the water about 80 miles east of Melbourne on Florida's east coast.
By the time rescuers arrived in a Combat King II transport plane and an HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopter, the survivors—all Bahamian adults—had been packed into the only tiny life raft they had for approximately five hours. There was no trace of the aircraft or debris, and first responders noted that the passengers had no knowledge that help was on its way.
"I've not known anyone to survive ditching in the ocean," said Major Elizabeth Piowaty, the transport plane's pilot, during a press conference at the base on Wednesday. "And from what I've seen, for all those people to survive is pretty miraculous, and then get in the raft all together."
Over nearly an hour and a half, the helicopter crew used a winch and basket to make nine lifts in choppy seas, bringing all survivors on board before flying them to waiting ambulances at Melbourne airport.
Fuel Emergency
Lieutenant Colonel Matt Johnson, who piloted the helicopter, disclosed that his aircraft had only about five minutes of available fuel remaining for the rescue operation when the last person in the raft was hoisted up. He told reporters that moment was "bingo time," a military term for the hard deadline to leave the scene due to low fuel.
His helicopter had the capability for in-flight refueling "if we exceeded our bingo fuel and we're running low," but that would have delayed getting the survivors, some of whom needed urgent medical attention, to shore. "We did not need to do that yesterday, but we were ready to go," he said.
Piowaty added that an incoming thunderstorm increased the urgency of the search, which was triggered by an alert from the plane's emergency beacon that activated on impact and was picked up by the US Coast Guard.
Survivor Accounts
The aircraft was reportedly on an internal flight between the Bahamian islands of Marsh Harbour and Grand Bahama when it ditched. The cause of the emergency is under investigation.
Air Force Captain Rory Whipple, one of the crew members winched down to the life raft, said the survivors "were in distress, physically, mentally, emotionally" after so long in the ocean, unaware if rescue was possible. "They didn't even know that we were coming until we were directly overhead," he said. "So you have to imagine the emotional injuries that were sustained out there and not knowing if someone was going to rescue them. But that's our job. We have the best job in the world, on someone's worst day we are at our best to bring everyone home."
One survivor, Olympia Outten, was a passenger traveling with her son and niece. She said the pilot appeared to have gotten off course in stormy weather, fuel was running low, and the plane had to ditch in the sea. "I was trapped, I had my seatbelt on, my son was saying 'Mummy, go' we had to get out," she said in an interview shown on CNN on Thursday, before breaking into sobs. Her son helped free her, and once in the water, she kept telling herself, "God, save us, let someone see us."
When the US aircrew, who had been conducting water rescue training in the area, responded to the plane's signal, Outten said the survivors felt joy. The swell was increasing up to 5 feet and storms were imminent when the survivors were rescued. No official account of what caused the plane to go down has yet been provided.
