Plane crash off Caribbean island kills at least 12, including music star

Singer-songwriter, guitarist and percussionist Aurelio Martinez of the band Aurelio performs onstage at the Hollywood Bowl Presents the 38th Anniversary Playboy Jazz Festival Day 1 at the Hollywood Bowl on June 11, 2016 in Hollywood, California. / Credit: Mathew Imaging via Getty

At least 12 people including a popular musician died Monday when a small plane crashed into the Caribbean sea quickly after taking off from the Honduran island of Roatan, officials and local media said. The Lanhsa Airlines plane departed at nightfall from Roatan, one of the central American country's main tourist destinations, headed for the port of La Ceiba on the Honduran mainland.

The aircraft "made a sharp turn to the right of the runway and fell into the water," civil aviation official Carlos Padilla said.

"The plane almost fell on us. I was fishing," a fisherman, whose name was not given, told HCH television.

The fire department said 12 people were killed in the crash while five others were rescued.

Rescue operations underway in the aftermath of a plane crash in location given as Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras, March 17, 2025. / Credit: Policia Nacional de Honduras/Handout via REUTERS

Dramatic video posted to social media by the national police showed rescue workers carrying a survivor on a stretcher onto the rocky shore. Another video showed a similar scene, with police reporting that only one body was still missing as rescue teams continued their search.

Roatan fire captain Franklin Borjas told the Reuters news agency that survivors were taken to a nearby hospital but provided no information on their conditions. Borjas told Reuters that the search and rescue efforts were complicated by the terrain.

"It's been difficult to access the accident (site) because there are 30 meters of rocks and you can't get there while walking or swimming," he told Reuters. "The divers helping with the rescue have zero visibility."

Honduran musician Aurelio Martinez, a popular member of the Garifuna music scene, was among the dead, local media reported. According to the Kennedy Center, Martinez founded the Lita Ariran ensemble, one of the first Garifuna groups to be featured on an internationally distributed album.

"Martinez's virtuosic musicianship and passionate performances made him a mainstay of the La Cieba music scene, where he was best loved for his take on punta rock, the high-energy, Garifuna roots-infused pop genre that took Central America by storm in the 1990s," according to the Kennedy Center.

Among the injured passengers was a 40-year-old French citizen who was being transferred to a hospital in the city of San Pedro Sula on the mainland, Major Wilmer Guerrero of the fire department said.

Fifteen passengers were on the plane, along with two pilots and a flight attendant, according to police.

The crash, which happened about half a mile from the island's coast, was caused by an "apparent mechanical failure" on the British-made Jetstream 41, the police statement said.

Honduran President Xiomara Castro said she had "immediately activated" an emergency committee made up of the armed forces, firefighters and others to assist the victims of the accident.