Small plane crash off Honduran island kills at least 7

At least seven people died Monday when a small plane crashed into the sea while taking off from the Honduran Caribbean island of Roatan, officials said.

10 people were retrieved from the site of the crash, six of whom were pronounced dead at the hospital. A crew member's body was then found floating in the sea near the plane, which crashed about a kilometer from the coast. One of the passengers, a 40-year-old French citizen, will be transferred to a hospital in the city of San Pedro Sula on the mainland.

The Lanhsa airlines plane took off at nightfall from Roatan, one of the Bay Islands, heading for the port of La Ceiba, on the mainland. The crash was caused by an "apparent mechanical failure" on the British-made Jetstream 41, police said in a statement.