11 survive plane crash off Florida coast after 5 hours in life raft

Airmen with the 920th RQW rescued the survivors from the water. PIC COURTESY/Gwendolyn Kurzen

Eleven people survived after a private plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Florida's central coast on Tuesday. They spent almost five hours in a life raft before US military rescue crews pulled them to safety.

The aircraft, identified as a Beechcraft 300 King Air turboprop, crashed about 50 miles off Vero Beach, Florida, after reportedly losing engine power during a flight between islands in the Bahamas.

Officials said the pilot landed the plane in the ocean and got everyone into an inflatable raft before the plane sank. The aircraft's emergency locator beacon set off the rescue response.

An Air Force Reserve rescue team, already training nearby, quickly joined the search, with a helicopter from the 920th Rescue Wing carrying out the final recovery.

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