By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

FOUR men are lucky to be alive after the small six-seater plane they were on crashed in waters near Chub Cay in the Berry Islands on Monday morning.

According to Minister of Transport and Aviation Glenys Hanna Martin, the party of four left the Lynden Pindling International Airport for Chub Cay but their Piper Aztec aircraft went down about a half mile off the cay near Diamond Rock.

The Tribune has been informed that the survivors are Captain Josh Scavella, Anthony Lightbourn, Teriq Evans and Ricardo McKenzie. They were transported to New Providence for medical attention for minor injuries.

The minister said that aviation officials had advised her that the aircraft reported experiencing engine trouble around 10.20am and had to ditch in the water.

Not long after the ditch, Mrs Hanna Martin said a rescue team of police and civilians found the four men with life jackets in about 45 feet of water. An official confirmed that the plane was found upside down.

In June, five people escaped a brush with death after their single engine Cessna 172 aircraft flying from Pittstown, Crooked Island, crashed into the sea 13 miles southeast of Nassau. There were four adults and one child on the plane.

The pilot reported engine problems before it ditched in the sea, Mrs Hanna Martin said shortly after that incident. The five survivors were found in a life raft and were taken by the Royal Bahamas Defence Force to its base in Coral Harbour.

Last year, Dr Myles Munroe, pastor of Bahamas Faith Ministries International, and his wife Ruth were among the nine people on board a Lear 36 executive jet that went down in a gruesome crash in bad weather in Grand Bahama. The plane had collided with a crane at the Grand Bahama Shipyard and crashed in a nearby junk pile. All on board were killed instantly.