TEGUCIGALPA, March 18, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - At least 12 people died Monday when a small plane crashed into the sea while taking off from a Caribbean island off Honduras, officials said.

The Lanhsa airlines plane departed at nightfall from Roatan, one of the central American country's main tourist destinations, heading for the port of La Ceiba, on the mainland.

The aircraft "made a sharp turn to the right of the runway and fell into the water", civil aviation official Carlos Padilla said.

"The plane almost fell on us. I was fishing," a fisherman, whose name was not given, told HCH television.

The fire department said 12 people were killed in the crash. Five people were rescued, and one is missing.

Honduran musician Aurelio Martinez, a popular member of the Garifuna music scene, was among the dead, according to local media reports.

One of the injured passengers included a 40-year-old French citizen, who will be transferred to hospital in the city of San Pedro Sula on the mainland, Major Wilmer Guerrero of the fire department said.

Fifteen passengers were onboard the plane, along with two pilots and a flight attendant, police said.

The crash, which happened around a kilometer from the coast, was caused by an "apparent mechanical failure" on the British-made Jetstream 41, the statement added.

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.