A crew of fishermen from the Florida Keys came to the rescue of three men from Miami they found adrift off the Bahamas after, officials said, their small plane crashed into the water.
Cellphone video captured the good Samaritans pulling the victims to safety, Thursday morning.
Federal Aviation Administration officials said the Piper PA-34 aircraft took off from Great Harbour Cay Airport in the Bahamas and was headed to Miami Executive Airport in Southwest Miami-Dade when it went down.
The U.S. Coast Guard Southeast district and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews responded to the scene, at approximately 11:20 a.m.
Coast Guard officials said crews located the plane about 20 miles east of Bimini.
A video posted the Coast Guard’s Twitter showed the submerged plane while observers fly over the crash site.
#UPDATE Footage of the downed aircraft after observers fly over the area after a fishing vessel crew rescued the 3 survivors from the water 20 miles east of Bimini. pic.twitter.com/LCik12nN7q
— USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) August 8, 2019
Coast Guard officials said the three men on board the aircraft crawled onto a raft and floated aimlessly for about an hour before they were spotted by someone onboard the good Samaritans’ fishing vessel.
“He saw something on the horizon, yellow, and directed his father to turn his boat in that direction,” said Allen Wood, one of the fishermen.
As they approached the raft, Wood saw the three men on board.
“When we got there and saw there were people on board, we approached them cautiously, and then we realized they were Americans in distress,” said Allen Wood, one of the good Samaritans. “We asked them what had happened, and they told us that their plane had crashed.”
Wood described the moments after they pulled the plane passengers on board their vessel. Crew members recorded video and took photographs of the rescue.
“They were very appreciative. They used our telephones to call their loved ones, inform them that there had been a plane crash and that they were OK, and they were very gracious” said Wood.
The fishermen said the plane passengers plane suffered some cuts and bruises, but there were no serious injuries.
The victims were eventually transferred to authorities in Cat Cay, Bahamas.
“By the time we got to Cat Cay, they were starting to smile,” said Wood. “We’re just glad we could help and get a little credit in our karma bank.”
The good Samaritans said they were on an annual fishing trip to celebrate one of their birthdays.
The FAA is working to determine the cause of the crash.
Copyright 2025 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.