By Kasey Williams
The search for the TBM900 aircraft that crashed off the coast of Portland early Friday afternoon, September 5 has been called off, having created a buzz in Port Antonio that saw many high ranking US Embassy personnel and US Coast Guard and local security officials visiting, the north east Jamaica town.
Two wealthy US nationals from Rochester, New York were believed killed when the plane went down of Portland’s coast.
The US Coast guard called off the search Sunday morning and the JDF Coast Guard did likewise shortly after. However the JDF said it would continue its operation along the coastline in the area.
There are many unanswered questions about the plane and its flight into Jamaica’s airspace, after it was initially scheduled to land in Naples, Florida.
A JDF offshore patrol vessel with 16 crew aboard and another vessel with eight crew aboard, were sent to the area where debris was seen, Friday.
Saturday morning at 2 o’ clock a US coast guard vessel arrived to help in the search. At daylight Saturday morning, the US Coast Guard and the other vessels from the JDF and JCF headed out to the area where it is believed the plane came down some 14 miles north-east of Port Antonio. US planes and three JDF aircraft were at sea searching for the missing plane on Saturday.
The missing plane doesn’t have a black box but has GPS. The area where the plane went missing is between 1,500 and 2,000 meters deep. In other words if the Blue Mountain were put into it, almost all of it would be submerged.
It is not clear if any fisher folk or residents on the coast of Portland s aw the plane going down but police said they would interact with them.
ODPEM, JCF, the Jamaica Fire Brigade and JDF were all involved in the search efforts. An Emergency Operation Centre was set up at the Errol Flynn Marina in Port Antonio on Saturday. Access to the EOC was restricted to only the agencies helping in the search and recovery effort.
Kasey Williams
