Some residents in the Pembroke Pines, Florida, neighborhood have been hailed as heroes after a quick rescue that saved the lives of four individuals aboard an aircraft that crashed into a tree about a mile from North Perry Airport’s runway.
They were fortunately rescued before the jet caught fire. The disaster occurred around 8 p.m. on July 13, when a Cessna T337G Skymaster piloted by 58-year-old Carlos Balza Cardenas of Weston lost thrust while attempting to land at North Perry Airport after a flight from Tortola, British Virgin Islands.
The event was captured on surveillance camera, and it showed the moment the jet slammed into the tree after barely clearing a house, according to the Associated Press.
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Good Samaritans could be heard in 911 calls banging on the windows of the burning plane while others called dispatchers. “We’re trying to get ’em out the plane,” one caller said, with the sound of glass shattering in the background. Some neighbors used a sledgehammer to smash open the windows. Another brought a hose to spray water on the aircraft while flames licked the wreckage.
“I saw the flames. One of the neighbors had a fire extinguisher,” Tekisha Jordan, a resident, said. “All of a sudden, you hear screams or yells coming out of the plane.”
“I grabbed the water hose right away, kept it on the fire while the engine was burning,” witness TJ Jordan told WPLG. According to him, the plane’s engine “was burning 25 yards from my house, my son’s room.”
Inside the aircraft were Cardenas, his wife, 54-year-old Fancly Maurette, and their two teenage daughters, 16-year-old Carol Balza and 13-year-old Nicole Balza. Maurette was pinned inside the cockpit, her legs trapped by the wreckage, making her the most difficult to free, according to Antoinette Proffitt, who lives nearby.
All four passengers were taken to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood. Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue classified one patient as Trauma Level 1 and the other three as Trauma Level 2. Miraculously, they all sustained only minor injuries.
The wreckage has since been removed from the crash site, and Southwest 14th Street was temporarily closed between Southwest 72 Avenue and Southwest 66 Avenue during the recovery process.
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Eddy Crispin, another resident, described the rescue efforts to CBS affiliate WFOR-TV. “They took the father out first,” he said. “The two daughters peeked their heads out of the seat. We had to break the bottom half of the cockpit because the mom was on the bottom, trapped in.
“The neighbor from across the street had a fire extinguisher trying to put the fire out. My neighbor where the plane actually crashed, he had a water hose and was hosing the plane down.”’
Pembroke Pines Mayor Angelo Castillo told the Orlando Sentinel that this latest crash is part of a disturbing trend that has caused residents to fear for their safety “They’re constantly looking up,” said Castillo. “It’s affecting everyone’s health, welfare and safety.”
Still, he praised their heroic efforts, saying, “It was nothing short of heroic.”
Meanwhile, Paris Tyburski, a spokesperson at the Broward County Aviation Department, stated that the agency is responsible for maintaining airport facilities, while the aircraft’s owner or operator is responsible for maintaining the plane. Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have opened investigations into the crash to determine the cause.
Residents told ABC News that since they’ve experienced accidents like this before, they now live in fear that at any moment their neighborhood, streets, and homes could become part of a landing strip.
Still, amid the trauma and uncertainty, the bravery of the community became clear.
“Residents put their dinner forks down to get out there,” Castillo remarked. “Some had garden hoses to put the fire out. There were cuts and bruises, but all four survived.”
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