Music group "still shocked" after bandmates killed in small plane crash

Members of the popular Bahamian band Da Pond Band are mourning several of their own after a small aircraft went down over the weekend, killing everyone aboard. The group's surviving musicians have begun speaking publicly about the bandmates they lost, describing a tragedy that has stunned the tight-knit island music community.

The aircraft, operated by regional carrier Flamingo Air, went down on Friday with ten people aboard, and there were no survivors. Bahamian aviation officials confirmed the death toll as investigators began examining what caused the crash.

According to the Bahamian Aircraft Accident Investigation Authority, the plane had departed Nassau's Lynden Pindling International Airport bound for San Andros when it went down over North Andros. The route is a short domestic hop, ordinarily covered in well under half an hour, making the loss of the aircraft especially jarring for a community accustomed to routine island-hopping flights.

Those aboard included musicians from Da Pond Band, a group known for its energetic take on Caribbean sound, as well as a well-known local disc jockey. The travelers had been heading to Andros Island to take part in festivities marking Independence Day, a celebration that draws large crowds for live performances across the Bahamas.

Vocalist Shenia Roberts, who sings with the band, had already reached Andros Island ahead of the rest of the group and was waiting for her fellow musicians to land when word of the crash reached her. Roberts has since said that five of her bandmates were among those killed, a toll that guts a group whose members often describe themselves as more like family than colleagues.

The loss has reverberated well beyond the band's immediate circle. Da Pond Band had built a following for lively performances at cultural gatherings across the islands, and news of the crash quickly spread through the Bahamian entertainment scene, with fellow performers and fans expressing disbelief that a routine flight to a national holiday event ended in catastrophe.

Investigators have not yet released a cause for the crash, and aviation authorities are expected to examine wreckage, maintenance records and weather conditions along the short Nassau-to-San Andros corridor as part of a formal inquiry. Small charter flights are a common way to reach the Bahamas' more remote islands, and the accident is likely to prompt renewed scrutiny of safety practices among regional carriers serving those routes.

For now, surviving members of Da Pond Band say they are still grappling with the scale of the loss, even as they face pressure to continue performing and honoring the friends who died. Independence Day events on Andros Island proceeded amid the grief, with organizers and attendees alike acknowledging the shadow the crash cast over what is normally one of the community's most festive weekends of the year.

Source: CBS World