POINTE-A-PITRE: Four people died when their medical evacuation plane plunged into the Caribbean shortly after taking off from the Franco-Dutch island of Saint Martin, the health ministry said Saturday.
A sick Greek Cypriot tourist, the pilot, a doctor and a nurse, all French, were on board the small plane when it crashed before dawn, five minutes after take-off.
The sick man had been transferred to the French part of the island after a plane on the Dutch side could not take off because of technical problems.
An witness said that when another plane took off from the French part of the island, it flew "unusually low" before plunging into the water.
The ministry said in a statement that the cause of the crash was under investigation. (AFP)