The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

A SEAPLANE carrying eight tourists and two crew members struck a dock and sank near North Bimini on Saturday as the pilot tried to steer away from heavy vessel traffic.

All ten people aboard the Tropic Ocean Airways aircraft escaped without injury, but witnesses described a rapid evacuation as water entered the pontoons and cabin before the plane rolled and sank in about 100 feet of water.

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Authority said the Cessna 208B, bearing United States registration N388TA, was taxiing at the North Bimini Seaplane Base at about 10am when the incident occurred.

Police said the pilot encountered heavy vessel traffic in the intended departure path and diverted northward in an attempt to make a safer take-off. While taxiing on the water, however, the aircraft began pulling to the left, failed to respond and collided with a dock.

American tourist Jeanne O’Brien, who was among those aboard, told ABC News the aircraft “went down pretty fast”.

“All of a sudden, the dock started getting closer and closer, and one of the people in the plane behind me said, ‘Where are you going?’ And then it just was boom, and it hit,” she said.

Video recorded inside the cabin captured the aircraft jolting before a warning beep sounded.

“Time to get out,” one passenger could be heard saying.

Passengers quickly unbuckled their seatbelts and climbed from their seats. As the aircraft drifted closer to shore, one passenger was seen throwing belongings onto land before everyone evacuated.

Boat captain Nick Pavlakis, who witnessed the crash, said he rushed to assist after hearing panicked voices and seeing people waving.

He said passengers and luggage were removed as the pontoons and then the cabin began filling with water.

“At that point, we said, ‘Okay, luggage comes off, all the passengers are safe.’ Copilot comes off, pilot getting everything off of the plane, and it was filling up in the pontoons, and then it starts filling up in the cabin. He got off of the plane just as it started to roll, and it eventually rolled, sat on the bottom where it still is today,” Mr Pavlakis told WPBF.

He said everyone except the pilot and co-pilot was aboard the rescue boat within five to ten minutes, although the entire operation felt much longer.

“We got everybody on the boat from leaving the dock and having people on board, minus the pilot and co-pilot,” he said. “It must have been five minutes, ten minutes tops. But between getting the boat situated, getting all the luggage off, it felt like a few hours. But I think it was probably 20 or 30 minutes.”

Mr Pavlakis said the aircraft struck a seawall, damaging a pontoon and causing it to take on water.

The AAIA has launched an investigation under International Civil Aviation Organisation Annex 13 procedures and local regulatory requirements. It said further updates would be issued as the investigation progresses.

Tropic Ocean Airways described the incident as a mishap while the aircraft was taxiing before departure and said it was cooperating fully with the authorities.

The crash occurred only weeks after ten people were killed when an aircraft travelling from New Providence to Andros crashed on Independence Day.

Preliminary findings in that investigation indicated the aircraft struck trees while apparently configured for landing before crashing into a wooded area and erupting in flames.