Aurelio Martínez was a Honduran musician and politician whose death was also reported. The authorities stated that the total number of people who died includes five survivors out of fifteen when the plane crashed near Roatán which is a popular tourist destination.
The statement from Márquez’s record label confirmed that the famous Honduran musician and politician Aurelio Martínez was also among the deceased. The military airplane Jetstream 32 had fifteen passengers and two crew members, which was scheduled to Roatan
15 passengers and 2 crew members were on board the plane, which took off from Roatan Island. The seaports were expected to reach La Ceiba, a city located in northern Honduras. The Head of Civil Aeronautics from Honduras gave this information in a public statement.
According to the Head of the Civil Aeronautics of Honduras, Jetstream 32 is an aircraft that has an expected seaport which is going to be La Ceiba which is a city in the North Coast. He also added that there were 15 passengers and 2 crew members. The National Police of Honduras also stated the flight took off at 11:00 AM.
The total number of deaths was reported to be at 12 with 5 survivors aboard. Franklin Borjas, who is the Fire Chief for Santos Guardiola City, said that the survivors were rescued by local fishermen who were present at the accident location.
A local news outlet quoted one of the fishermen, Aldair Alemán, as describing how after the crash he started noticing bodies floating in the water. Realizing that some of these people were alive, drowning and calling for help, needed rescue. A second fisherman agreed, and the two managed to get four people into their little boat, which they later transferred to firefighters.
“He said, ‘They were in a moment of shock — they only wanted to get into the boat.’” Some individuals displayed bones jutting out of their skin while others suffered serious injuries to their faces.
Video clips from the national police’s social media pages show rescue personnel stationed along the rocky shoreline and retrieving individuals from the sea, then placing them on stretchers.
As of now, the authorities were still attempting to recover the co-pilot’s body, which, according to Mr. Borjas, was still stuck beneath the water inside the plane. According to him, removing the aircraft’s fuselage and black box would require more time too, because the region where the plane went down is surrounded by reefs, which complicates navigational access.
According to Mr. Borjas, the five individuals who survived the crash were flown to a hospital in the city of San Pedro Sula.
Mr. Martínez was one of the most important performers and advocates of Garifuna music, which stems from the Indigenous Caribbean tribes and African enslaved peoples settled on the Central America coastline.
As per Real World Records, he was the founder of Lita Ariran who according to some of his first Garifuna groups to ever perform on an internationally distributed recording. He then went on to become one of the first black representatives in the National Congress, los honduras’ parliament.
His record label expressed deep sorrow at the news of his death, remarking, “Aurelio was more than a musician he was a statesman Garinagu of Honduras, the critical defender of Garifuna culture, beloved and revered everywhere.”
The civil aeronautics agency stated that an investigation had been launched, but the reason for the crash is still ambiguous.
Located 56 kilometers from the mainland, Roatán is the largest of the Bay Islands and a popular destination in the Caribbean Paraguay for divers searching for coral reefs.