TEGUCIGALPA: At least seven people died Monday when a small plane crashed into the sea while taking off from the Honduran Caribbean island of Roatan, officials said.

Major Wilmer Guerrero of the fire department told reporters 10 people were retrieved from the site of the crash, six of whom were pronounced dead at the hospital.

A crew member’s body was then found floating in the sea near the plane, which crashed about a kilometer from the coast.

Officials gave conflicting reports on the number of people on board the plane — either 17 or 18. Guerrero said one of the passengers, a 40-year-old French citizen, will be transferred to a hospital in the city of San Pedro Sula on the mainland.

The Lanhsa airlines plane took off at nightfall from Roatan, one of the Bay Islands, and one of Honduras’ main tourist destinations, heading for the port of La Ceiba, on the mainland.

The plane almost fell on us. I was fishing,” a fisherman, whose name was not given, told HCH television. Honduran President Xiomara Castro said she had “immediately activated” an emergency committee made up of the armed forces, firefighters, and others to assist the victims of the accident.

The crash was caused by an “apparent mechanical failure” on the British-made Jetstream 41, police said in a statement.AFP