Bahamas plane crash: One dead and ten other passengers hospitalised

A 77-year-old man US has died and 10 others, including a child, have been hospitalised after a small plane carrying 11 people crashed near the Bahamas on Tuesday.

The Ferguson Air plane was serving as a charter for Bahamas-based Southern Air, when it left the island of Eleuthera today. The aircraft was preparing to land on New Providence when it crashed, Superintendent Paul Rolle said.

Police said the pilot of the Navajo Chieftian plane had alerted officials that he was experiencing problems, and then tried to steer the plane close to shallow water. But the craft lost power some 550 feet (170 metres) from the coast and crashed.

Police have not yet identified the man who died or his where he was from. The other passengers were hospitalised, but their conditions were not immediately known.

Divers from a nearby aquatic sports business helped rescue the survivors, authorities said.

The 10 survivors, including one child, were rescued by a team from the nearby Stuart Cove’s Aqua Adventures and taken by ambulance to Doctors Hospital in the capital, Nassau, according to Bahamas newspaper The Tribune.