12 killed in Honduras plane crash, including Garifuna musician Aurelio Martínez Suazo
The Lanhsa Airlines flight crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff Monday night from the island of Roatan en route to the mainland city of La Ceiba.
It carried 17 passengers and crew, five of whom were rescued and hospitalized.
Police reported that the plane failed to reach full altitude and sank quickly after impact. Local fishermen rescued the survivors.
The Honduran Civil Aeronautics Agency said the crash is under investigation.
Among the victims was Aurelio Martínez Suazo, a former member of Congress and member of the Garifuna ethnic group, which is of mixed African and Indigenous heritage. Martínez Suazo also held U.S. citizenship. His representative, Helene Odile Guivarch, a French citizen, was among the survivors.
Martínez Suazo was originally from Honduras' Gracias a Dios region along the country's Caribbean coast.
'We're devastated,' his nephew Ángel Aparicio Fernández Martínez, also a musician who played with his uncle, said Tuesday. 'He was the family's pillar.'
Martínez Suazo was a member of Los Gatos Bravos before forming his own group Lita Ariran. His first album 'Garifuna Soul' took him to Europe, the United States and other parts of the world.
'He was the greatest model from Honduras of Garifuna music on a worldwide stage,' his nephew said.
Humberto Castillo, president of the Association of Afro-descendants of the Sula Valley, called Martínez Suazo 'the ambassador of Garifuna culture,' noting that he spoke Garifuna and Miskito and composed music in both languages.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
6 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Italian divers water-blast the popular underwater statue of Christ off Portofino
Italy Christ of the Abyss ROME (AP) — Police divers have cleaned one of the biggest underwater attractions of the Mediterranean, using pressurized water hoses to remove crustaceans from the 'Christ of the Abyss' statue that was placed on the seabed off Italy's northern coast in 1954 as a memorial to those who have died at sea. The 2.5-meter (yard) tall bronze statue, depicting Christ with his hands raised in blessing, was made using the melted-down medals of Italy's fallen soldiers, canons and ships and is appreciated here as a potent symbol of sacrifice in World War II. Similar statues are found off Key Largo, Florida and in Grenada. The statue is located about 300 meters (yards) off the beach between the resort towns of Portofino and Camogli, on Italy's northern Ligurian coast, at a depth of around 18 meters (yards). The archaeological office of Italy's Culture Ministry says that, because of its proximity to the coast and relatively shallow depth, the 'Christ of the Abyss' site is the most frequented dive spot in the Mediterranean. The site, located in the bay of San Fruttuoso, also draws kayakers and paddleboarders since the statue can be seen from the surface. Every year, police divers carefully water-blast the statue to remove bacteria and corrosive crustations that have accumulated. The cleaning, which this year took place on Aug. 19, uses seawater itself and causes no damage to the bronze or the marine ecosystem as the microorganisms are dislodged and released back into the sea, said Alessandra Cabella, art historian from the Ligurian archaeology superintendent's office. 'There are a ton of marvelous fish who come to watch,' she said in an interview Thursday. 'It's truly an activity with zero impact on the environment.' The water-blasting technique has been in use since 2004, when the statue was taken from the water for a full restoration after a hand had broken off and was re-attached. It was then that restorers realized that the previous underwater cleaning method – scraping the bronze with metal brushes to remove the crustaceans – had caused irreparable damage to the statue's surface, creating crevices in the bronze patina that attracted even more marine material to accumulate. The statue is also delicate because when it was made, by Italian artist Guido Galletti to honor an Italian diver who died in the area, it was filled with cement and iron rods to stabilize it on the seabed. The presence of the iron has helped corrode the bronze from the inside, Cabella said. Solve the daily Crossword
San Francisco Chronicle
2 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Italian divers water-blast the popular underwater statue of Christ off Portofino
ROME (AP) — Police divers have cleaned one of the biggest underwater attractions of the Mediterranean, using pressurized water hoses to remove crustaceans from the 'Christ of the Abyss' statue that was placed on the seabed off Italy's northern coast in 1954 as a memorial to those who have died at sea. The 2.5-meter (yard) tall bronze statue, depicting Christ with his hands raised in blessing, was made using the melted-down medals of Italy's fallen soldiers, canons and ships and is appreciated here as a potent symbol of sacrifice in World War II. Similar statues are found off Key Largo, Florida and in Grenada. The statue is located about 300 meters (yards) off the beach between the resort towns of Portofino and Camogli, on Italy's northern Ligurian coast, at a depth of around 18 meters (yards). The archaeological office of Italy's Culture Ministry says that, because of its proximity to the coast and relatively shallow depth, the 'Christ of the Abyss' site is the most frequented dive spot in the Mediterranean. The site, located in the bay of San Fruttuoso, also draws kayakers and paddleboarders since the statue can be seen from the surface. Every year, police divers carefully water-blast the statue to remove bacteria and corrosive crustations that have accumulated. The cleaning, which this year took place on Aug. 19, uses seawater itself and causes no damage to the bronze or the marine ecosystem as the microorganisms are dislodged and released back into the sea, said Alessandra Cabella, art historian from the Ligurian archaeology superintendent's office. 'There are a ton of marvelous fish who come to watch,' she said in an interview Thursday. 'It's truly an activity with zero impact on the environment.' The water-blasting technique has been in use since 2004, when the statue was taken from the water for a full restoration after a hand had broken off and was re-attached. It was then that restorers realized that the previous underwater cleaning method – scraping the bronze with metal brushes to remove the crustaceans – had caused irreparable damage to the statue's surface, creating crevices in the bronze patina that attracted even more marine material to accumulate. The statue is also delicate because when it was made, by Italian artist Guido Galletti to honor an Italian diver who died in the area, it was filled with cement and iron rods to stabilize it on the seabed. The presence of the iron has helped corrode the bronze from the inside, Cabella said.
Associated Press
3 hours ago
- Associated Press
Park Chan-wook addresses WGA expulsion
The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. More than half the world's population sees AP journalism every day.
