What happened
A scheduled service flight departed from Los Roques Airport at 07:34 local time, bound for Porlamar. The aircraft, a single-engine plane, was operating with two pilots and 11 passengers on board.
While the flight was cruising at an altitude of 11,500 feet at approximately 08:04 local time, the engine experienced an explosion followed by significant vibration. In response to the mechanical failure, the crew deactivated the engine, declared an emergency, and began a descent to a lower altitude.
Ten minutes after the initial failure, while flying with flaps set to 30 degrees, the crew performed a ditching maneuver at low speed. The aircraft landed in the water approximately 7.4 km north of La Tortuga Island. While the aircraft was destroyed in the accident, all 13 occupants were successfully rescued without reported fatalities.
Findings
The investigation determined that the engine failed due to the disintegration of several blades on the compressor disk. Although a technical analysis was conducted, investigators could not identify the specific reason why the disk blades disintegrated.