GALVESTON, Texas (KTRK) — Five people are dead, one is missing, and two were rescued after a plane crashed into the water near Galveston on Monday afternoon, the Mexican Navy announced.
One of the survivors, a woman, was pulled from the wreckage by a good Samaritan who was out boating on Galveston Bay with his 11-year-old son and his friend.
“It looked like there was no way there could be any survivors in there,” Sky Decker, who lives on the island, told reporters.
A dramatic video taken by his son, Sky Jr., and shared with ABC13 shows his father pushing through debris to get to the woman.
“She’s still alive in there,” he yelled in one of the videos.
“I was just trying to do everything I could do,” he said. “I don’t think anything was going through my mind other than trying to help.”
The Coast Guard confirmed it got a report at 3:20 p.m. of a plane crash west of the Galveston Causeway. Eight people were on board. They launched a boat and a helicopter to search for the plane. Multiple additional agencies also responded, including the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office and the Galveston Fire Department.
According to Mexican officials, the Beecher aircraft, which belonged to the Mexican Navy, was on a medical support mission with the Michou y Mau Foundation when it “experienced an accident.” The foundation’s website states that it transfers pediatric patients from Mexico to Shriners Hospital for Children in Galveston and focuses on burn patients. A firefighter was seen carrying a child victim to an ambulance in the aftermath.
The Michou y Mau Foundation’s website says it transfers pediatric burn patients from Mexico to Shriners Hospital for Children in Galveston.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigators were on scene Monday to begin investigating the cause of the crash. At the time, thick fog had moved into the area, and onlookers described conditions with low visibility.
“Visibility was probably 30 yards. I can’t imagine trying to land a plane in this,” remarked Oliver Wilson, the owner of the boat the Deckers were on. “Extremely unfortunate.”
This story comes from our news partner ABC13 Houston.
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