Details were still coming in last night, but a Civil Aviation official confirmed that the pilot of a twin engine Beech Baron aircraft was killed yesterday afternoon when his plane crashed into waters near Norman’s Cay in the Exumas.
Chief Operations Officer of the Department of Civil Aviation Anthony Dean said initial reports indicated that the body of Stephen C. Fenner had not been initially found.
Reports are that the aircraft, which authorities said left Nassau around 12:30pm, experienced problems upon its approach to Norman’s Cay.
Eyewitnesses in fact reported seeing smoke coming from one of the aircraft’s engines and it appeared to be on fire, Mr. Dean said.
He added that shortly after, the plane crashed.
Reports are that Defence Force officers on patrol in the Exuma Land and Sea Park along with officials of the Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association (BASRA) raced to the scene.
Mr. Dean said someone aboard a boat in the vicinity of the crash reportedly retrieved Mr. Senner’s backpack.
A probe was last night underway as officials tried to determine what went wrong.
They could not say whether Mr. Fenner was a resident or citizen of The Bahamas, but he was believed to be the caretaker of Norman’s Cay.
The cay is considered one of the most beautiful in the Exumas and is located 36 miles from Nassau and 210 miles off the Florida coast.
It is reportedly the site of a planned touristic development, but was once vested in the treasurer after it was confiscated from drug king pin Carlos Lehder, who arrived on Norman’s Cay in the late 70’s and began purchasing large pieces of property.
The crash has re-focused attention on the cay, but the main concern of authorities was picking up the pieces after the latest deadly plane crash off a Bahamian island, searching for Mr. Fenner’s body, and trying to pin-point exactly what led to the incident.
Source: The Bahama Journal
