Residents praised for rescue effort in plane crash

Councillor of the Greenwich Town Division, Karrol Blake, expressed gratitude for the gallant efforts of residents of Greenwich Farm to save the three occupants of the Caribbean Aviation Training Centre (CATC) Cessna 172 aircraft that crashed in the community yesterday.

"The people of the community they were the first responders. I must thank them for the bravery they showed in getting the man out of the plane," Blake said. A flight instructor and student of the CATC were pronounced dead on the scene. The other student was rushed to the Kingston Public Hospital.

smoke inhalation

He is critically injured with 60 per cent burns, fractures and suffering from smoke inhalation. He was pulled from the wreckage by four men from the community who were alerted to the crash by ackee vendor, Ann-Marie Anderson.

"A ackee mi round deh a pick and hear when the sumting drop mi look behind. Mi see that it is a plane and mi chuck off. And mi run come outside and call out. A dem yute run come in and tek out the man," Anderson said.

"A carpenter work mi a do pon di train line when mi reach pon di scene," said Michael Hurd, one of the quartet. "Mi just start throw dirt and water." The plane took off from the nearby Tinson Pen Aerodrome before it developed mechanical problems and crashed some time after 1 p.m. The Civil Aviation Authority has launched a probe.