11 Bahamas-bound crash survivors rescued after hours adrift off Florida coast

Eleven Bahamian adults aboard a twin-engine turboprop crashed about 80 miles off Melbourne, Florida. They spent roughly five hours on a life raft before rescue teams—including a Coast Guard air crew and a 920th Rescue Wing helicopter—plucked them from the ocean as a thunderstorm approached. The survivors, though dehydrated, were listed in stable condition after being brought to Melbourne Orlando International Airport; the ELT beacon had alerted responders, and Bahamian authorities will investigate the crash’s cause.