Honduras: Twelve people die after plane crashes into the ocean

A passenger plane crashed into the Caribbean Sea shortly after takeoff (Picture: Rex/Reuters)

A plane carrying 17 people has crashed into the ocean in Honduras, killing 12 passengers.

The small aircraft plunged into the Caribbean Sea just moments after taking off from tropical Roatán Island.

Twelve people were killed when the Jetstream 32 flight crashed into the waves yesterday evening around half a mile from the island.

Five people reportedly survived the crash, which happened after the plane had taken off from mainland Honduras on its strategy to town of La Ceiba, the Latest York Times reports.

Handout picture released by Honduran Police shows rescue teams working on the site of a plane crash in Roatan, Honduras on March 17, 2025. A small plane with 17 people on board skidded off the runway on takeoff from the Honduran Caribbean island of Roatan and crashed into the sea, with no immediate reports of fatalities, the Civil Aeronautics Department reported. (Photo by Handout / HONDURAN POLICE / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT — Dramatic footage shows one in all the survivors being carried from the water (Picture: Getty)

Authorities said that the body of one in all the people killed was still missing and recovery efforts proceed on the crash site.

Why did the plane crash in Honduras?

The explanation for the crash will not be yet known, but an investigation has been launched.

It might have been brought on by an ‘apparent mechanical failure,’ the local police said in an announcement.

Honduras plane crash map Roat?n, Honduras — A map shows where the Honduras plane crashed into the ocean (Picture: Metro.co.uk)

Carlos Padilla, a civil aviation official, said the plane ‘made a pointy turn to the proper of the runway and fell into the water.’

A fisherman told the HCH television how the ‘plane almost fell on us’ when he was out at sea.

Among the many victims is allegedly Honduran musician Aurelio Martinez, a well-liked member of the Garifuna music scene, CBS News reports citing local media.

He founded the Lita Ariran ensemble, one in all the primary Garifuna groups to get international distribution.

Rescue teams load an injured passenger onto a plane near Roatan Island, Honduras, after the plane crashed into the sea. — Rescue employees load one in all the few survivors onto a plane on Roatan Island’s airport after the crash (Picture: Armed Forces of Honduras/Reuters)

Certainly one of the injured survivors is a 40-year-old French citizen who was being taken to a hospital in San Pedro Sula on the mainland.

Xiomara Castro, the Honduran president, said on social media platform X she ‘immediately activated’ the emergency operations with the armed forces, fire service, national police and the Red Cross.

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to an online
browser that
supports HTML5
video

‘May God protect their lives,’ she wrote.

It comes after passengers had a dramatic escape when an American Airlines plane made an emergency landing at Denver Airport.

Passengers had to flee on the wings of the plane when the cabin suddenly full of smoke.

Roatan Island, which sits around 40 miles north of Honduras’s mainland, is a well-liked holiday destination boasting lush nature, pristine waters and wildlife.

Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

MORE: I bring three-course meals on flights to make economy feel first-class

MORE: Shirtless man tears apart airport after missing his flight

MORE: Premier League star releases first horrifying images after crashing Ferrari and nearly dying