A small plane crashed on a major road in Haiti capital, killing at least seven people
Updated April 21, 2022
A single-engine airplane crashed in Haiti Wednesday along a major road on the southern outskirts of the capital, leaving at least seven people dead, including the pilot, who later succumbed to his injuries at a local hospital.
Dr. Jerry Chandler, who heads Haiti’s Office of Civil Protection, said his first responders were on the scene.
The privately owned Cessna 207 was headed to the port city of Jacmel in the southeast when it crashed around 4 p.m. near a police station along the Carrefour Road in Port-au-Prince. The airplane had not too long before taken off from the Port-au-Prince domestic airport, which was about eight miles away.
Jean Elie Fortune was on a minibus coming from Jacmel, he said, when he and the other passengers saw the aircraft spinning before plunging from the sky. It was unclear how many people may have been on board as well as the total number of dead including casualties on the ground.
“I counted six dead bodies,” Fortune told the Miami Herald.
The flight’s manifest had four passengers and a pilot, according to a source. Chandler said there were conflicting reports about who may or may not have survived the crash and his team was carrying out an investigation. Jude Edouard Pierre, the mayor of Carrefour, said at least three of the dead were passengers onboard the aircraft. Two others were injured and taken to a local hospital along with the pilot, he said, when the airplane hit their vehicle as it came crashing down out of the sky.
After initially surviving the crash, the Dominican pilot, whom Pierre identified as Amando Gutierrez, died of his injuries at a local hospital, several sources confirmed, bringing the death toll to at least seven.
Videos of the crash scene showed that when the aircraft hit the ground the engine was still running, which indicates that it may not have been total engine failure, according to a pilot. Images showed the six-seater broken into pieces, strewn across the roadway.
This is the second fatal airplane crash of a Jacmel-bound aircraft in months.
In July, two American missionaries were among six people killed when their single-engine airplane crashed in the commune of Léogâne in the locality of Mathurin, a section of Beauséjour.
Since last June when armed clashes between warring gangs caused the forced displacement of thousands of Haitians from their homes at the southern entrance of Port-au-Prince, Haitians have had to seek other routes to get to the southern regions of the country. As a result charter aircraft have been in high demand to help take passengers to areas cut off by gangs.
As a result of the increased dependence on private aircraft and the high costs of tickets, residents in the southwestern city of Les Cayes last week took to the streets in a violent protest, which led some demonstrators to tear apart and then burned a plane used by a Florida-based charity.
The eight-seat Piper Navajo Chieftain aircraft belonged to Agape Flights, which is based in Venice, Florida. The destruction led other charter operators to cancel all flights throughout Haiti the following day, and the largest domestic operator to temporarily halt flights to Les Cayes. Planes are operating again.
The spelling of the pilot’s first name is Amando Gutierrez, according to a photo of his ID. A previous version had his name misspelled as Armando.
This story was originally published April 20, 2022 5:46 PM.
National Center of Haitian Apostolate
Act 5: 12-16; Ps 118; Rev 1: 9-11a +12-13+17-19; Jn 20: 29-31
Msgr. Pierre André Pierre
This Sunday forcefully proclaims the great mystery of Divine Mercy. God is love. Jesus came into this world out of pity for us who go astray in acts of violence, and hatred and wade excessively in the most disgusting selfishness.
This Sunday is called “Divine Mercy Sunday” at the request of Pope John Paul II at the Canonization ceremony of St Faustina Kowalska in Rome on April 30, 2000. The saintly Pope wanted to forcefully call to the attention of the modern world the great mystery of God’s infinite love for us. For this, he resorted to the special revelations received by St Faustina of Poland in the thirties. In a vision, she saw Jesus with two rays shining forth from the open wound on his side: a white ray symbolizing the healing river of grace flowing from the Risen Lord and a red ray signifying the blood of mercy pouring out from His Heart.
We are urged by the Word of God to believe more intensely in three key teachings:
First: God’s love for each one of us is infinite;
Second: Jesus' death on the Cross is above all an act of mercy;
Third: We too must be Ministers of MERCY in the midst of this cruel world.
Without recourse to the merciful Heart of JESUS, Peace will remain inaccessible to our hearts, to our families, to our societies, and even to the world. We have understood nothing of the Gospel of Jesus and his Cross until we have grasped that what is primordial in the mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus is mercy. of God the Father dazzling like the sun in the incredible mercy of Jesus dying for us at Calvary.
Jesus is like a MODEL who teaches us to be above all ambassadors of his Mercy. We betray JESUS when we act without love, without mercy.
Mercy is a GIFT from heaven. It is a grace that is obtained by the prayer of faith. Learn to recite the Rosary of Mercy. Jesus loves you without measure. Why wait any longer? Throw yourself into his arms! In the midst of this cruel world, be a witness to Love!
Society needs your testimony to take a step on the path to peace!
Special prayers are attached to this feast day especially the chaplet of mercy. Using an ordinary rosary, instead of the “Hail Mary” recited on each bead, the believer is called to say:
“Through His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.” At the end of the decade, we say: “Most Holy Father I offer you the heart and the blood, the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation and that of the whole world.”
St. Faustina heard from Jesus that as long as we fail to have recourse to his mercy, world peace will not be achieved. Grow in your unshakable trust in God’s infinite mercy and grow in mercy in all your deeds. Pray incessantly for the grace of MERCY in all your relationships.
Protest planned on Haitian Labor Day to increase minimum wage
BY THE HAITIAN TIMES APR. 22, 2022
Textile workers protesting for better pay in Port-au-Prince in February 2022. Photo credit: Pensa Latina
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Two unions representing factory workers and security guards plan to hold a two-day protest on May 1, Haiti’s Agricultural and Labor Day in Haiti, and May 2 to demand a minimum wage increase.
“May 1 in Haiti is not a commemoration for Labor Day, but of unemployment,” said Jean Wilgens Charles, head of Esklav Revolte or Rebelious Slave. “We call out on all citizens to protest against the high cost of living, hunger, misery and insecurity.”
During a news conference Apr. 21 at the offices of ESPM-BO workers rights group, organizers said the protest will start at 9:00 a.m. at the National Society of Industrial Park (SONAPI) and march via Airport Road to the National Old Age Insurance Office (ONA).
Demonstrators will also go to the prime minister’s office through Delmas 48 to chide him for not keeping his promises to provide social assistance and debit cards to workers.
In February, thousands of workers took to the streets to demand a minimum wage of 1,500 Gourdes, about USD $13, a day. They said the increase is necessary to cope with inflation and afford basic necessities that have become so expensive since fuel prices increased.
The Haitian government increased the minimum wage to 685 Gourdes, about $6, for subcontractors, but the unions insist on the higher amount.