Two Americans were among the six killed in plane crash in Haiti
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Six people, including two U.S. citizens, were killed after a small airplane crashed Friday in Haiti, just south of the capital, the country’s National Office of Civil Aviation said.
The single-engine six-seater aircraft, registered to a South Florida company, left Port-au-Prince at 6:57 p.m. bound for the seaside town of Jacmel in the southeast. It was scheduled to arrive at 7:09 p.m. but crashed on the way in the commune of Léogâne in the locality of Mathurin, a section of Beauséjour.
Though the site of the crash was difficult to access, aviation officials, police, first responders and the representative for the area, Paul Joël Felix, worked hard to respond to the crash, the National Office of Civil Aviation said in a statement.
The bodies were eventually recovered and taken out of the airplane Saturday morning, as Haitians prepared for Hurricane Elsa, later downgraded to a tropical storm.
The cause of the crash wasn’t immediately reported. Haiti’s surging gang violence, which has cut off access to four regions in the south, is increasingly forcing people to find creative ways to travel. Some are taking barges between cities and others are flying on aircraft that land on dirt strips.
Darwin Hostetler said his cousin, Trent Hostetler, 35, and John Miller, an evangelist affiliated with Lighthouse Chapel in Richland, Wisconsin, were among five passengers who died in the crash that also killed the passenger. Both men are from Wisconsin and affiliated with Gospel to Haiti, a Christian mission that has been operating in Haiti since 2004. Trent Hostetler was the administrator for Haiti, where the mission runs a clinic and several schools in the mountain near Petit-Goâve.
“Because of the political unrest, the gang violence and so on in Haiti, they were taking this small plane to Jacmel where they would meet up with the rest of their family,” Darwin Hostetler, the principal officer of the mission, told the Miami Herald. “They were flying to Jacmel and then they were going to meet up with our missionaries then, who were going to take them to Petit-Goâve.”
Darwin Hostetler said Trent, his wife Erica and their kids had just flown back to Haiti after a several-week furlough in the United States.
Miller had flown back with them to spend time in Haiti as an evangelist for a mobile clinic the mission was running. There wasn’t room for everyone on the first flight, so Erica and the couple’s three children, along with some other friends visiting Haiti, took an earlier flight. Trent and Miller went on another small plane.
When the flight didn’t show up, Erica Hostetler and her group became very concerned and soon heard that the plane had gone down somewhere near Léogâne.
“A search team was formed and sent out and they located the plane early this morning and confirmed that all six people were killed, including Trent and John,” Darwin Hostetler said. Miller, he said, has a wife and seven children.
Hostetler said “evidently they encountered trouble, but we haven’t heard what the cause was. They ran into the side of the mountain,” he said.
The mission took to its Facebook page Saturday asking for prayers, and has set up a gofundme to help with expenses.
This is the second time in a few months that American missionary workers have fallen victim to Haiti’s surging violence and instability. In May, Mike and Hope Sonnenschein of Brevard County were attacked by gunmen on motorcycles while returning home from dinner in Port-au-Prince. During the attack Mike Sonnenschein shielded his wife and was shot. The bullet fragmented and lodged into a lung and his spine, instantly paralyzing him, according to Spectrum News 13.
Because his insurance refused to cover his medical costs as a result the State Department’s “Do Not Travel” warning to Haiti, the community held a fundraiser and rally for the family on June 22 in hopes of helping them with their medical costs.
The airplane that crashed Friday, with a registration number of N8694N, is registered to Citadelle Holdings LLC of Palmetto Bay, and leased to a Haitian company, Kiskeya Airways. The aircraft, a Cherokee Six, is built by Piper.
A lot of questions have been raised about the crash, from whether the U.S. registered aircraft had permission to operate in Haiti to whether the pilot had a valid license and medical certificate. Haitian authorities have not responded to requests for comment about whether the charter flight was legal.
Philippe Gornail, the owner of the aircraft, said he didn’t have any details about the accident.
“I am in contact with the aviation authorities in Haiti and must await their preliminary findings before I can know the details of the accident,” he said.
Haiti has had several fatal crashes of domestic airlines in recent history. Among them, Tropical Airways Airways flight 1301 . The plane exploded and crashed after take-off in 2003, killing all 21 people on board. The crash, near Cap-Haitien, was attributed to several factors including insufficient altitude, a loss of control and cargo door failure.
This story was originally published July 3, 2021 at 12:40 AM.
