U.S. Military Rescues 11 Bahamians from Life Raft After Plane Crash Off Florida Coast

Members of the U.S. military who rescued 11 people from a plane crash 80 miles off Florida's east coast on Tuesday described the operation and called it miraculous that no major injuries occurred.

The twin-engine turboprop went down about 80 miles off Melbourne, Florida, roughly 175 miles north of Miami.

An emergency locator transmitter signal from the aircraft alerted U.S. Coast Guard Southeast District watchstanders to a possible distress around 11 a.m. Tuesday. Rescue teams launched right away.

A 920th Rescue Wing HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopter crew, already airborne on a training mission, shifted to the search and rescue. A Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater C-27 Spartan aircrew and an HC-130J Combat King II aircrew from Patrick Space Force Base joined the effort.

"We got notification from their (Emergency Locator Transmitter) beacon, and that was all the information that was relayed to us at the time," Maj. Elizabeth Piowaty, aircraft commander on the HC-130J Combat King II, said at a news conference Wednesday.

She explained that the ELT activates on significant impact with land or water.

The 11 Bahamian adults floated on a life raft for about five hours before rescuers spotted them.

"You could tell just by looking at them that they were in distress. Physically, mentally and emotionally," Capt. Rory Whipple said.

He noted his team trains for such scenarios regularly, making it just another day at work for them. Dehydration posed the biggest threat, along with potential injuries from the crash.

"They didn't have communication. They didn't even know we were coming until we were directly overhead," Whipple said.

Piowaty described the timing as critical, with a thunderstorm approaching as they arrived.

"Once we flew over them and identified them, a thunderstorm was coming in, so they had their rain tarp over them for protection from exposure," she said.

She added that surviving an ocean ditching is rare. "I have not known anyone to survive a ditching in the ocean," Piowaty said. "For all those people to survive is pretty miraculous."

Rescuers hoisted all 11 survivors into the helicopter with minutes of fuel to spare. They flew the group to Melbourne Orlando International Airport, where officials listed them in stable condition.

The plane had left Marsh Harbor, Bahamas, bound for Freeport when engine failure brought it down. Bahamian authorities will investigate the cause.