JAMAICA-UNRESPONSIVE PLANE SEARCH Jamaican authorities search for wreck of unresponsive plane following crash

Record ID: 705263

  • Title: JAMAICA-UNRESPONSIVE PLANE SEARCH Jamaican authorities search for wreck of unresponsive plane following crash
  • Date: 6th September 2014
  • Summary: KINGSTON, JAMAICA (SEPTEMBER 6, 2014) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE JAMAICA CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY, LEROY LINDSAY, SAYING: "The depth we expect where the aircraft went in is something around about 2,000 meters, and really deep, and we might not have the assets to deal with that in Jamaica. The French, they have volunteered that they will assist should we need equipment to do -- to go to those depths to help us with the discovery of the aircraft."
  • Embargoed: 21st September 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAD9CCJPXABPQWXST4P5YJIRMAS
  • Story Text: The Jamaican Defence Force released video on Saturday (September 6) of the search for a small U.S. private plane that crashed off the coast of Jamaica one day earlier.
    "Our basic mission at this time is to continue the search to locate possible wreckage and/or survivors," Jamaica's Coast Guard Commander Antonette Wemyss-Gorman told a news conference in Jamaica's capital, Kingston.
    Previously, a New York county official said that Larry Glazer, a real-estate executive from Rochester in New York, and his wife, Jane Glazer, were aboard the plane. Both were killed, the official said.
    It was not yet known if anyone else was on the plane.
    Aviation officials said the pilot stopped responding to air traffic control an hour into flight en route from Rochester, New York, to Naples, Florida. It veered far off its course toward southwest Florida, triggering a U.S. security alert that prompted a fighter jet escort.
    Search and rescue teams, including a military plane and a helicopter, were dispatched to the crash site about 14 miles (22 km) north of the tourist town of Port Antonio, Jamaica's Civil Aviation Authority said.
    However, at the news conference, Director General of the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority, Leroy Lindsay, expressed concern about Jamaica's capacity to carry out the investigation.
    "The depth we expect where the aircraft went in is something around about 2,000 meters, and really deep, and we might not have the assets to deal with that in Jamaica," he said.
    Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Kingston, Elizabeth Lee Martinez, praised the Jamaican government for its "approach to this tragedy."
    "This is a Jamaican-led operation and we stand by ready to assist as requested," she said.
    The U.S. Coast Guard also joined the search with an HC-130 Hercules airplane and a helicopter, as well as a Coast Guard Cutter.
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