The founder of a church ministry and his 22-year-old daughter have been identified as the victims of a deadly plane crash in Florida on Monday as they were flying hurricane relief supplies to Jamaica.
Alexander Wurm, 53, and his daughter Serena died when their twin-engined Beechcraft King Air crashed into a residential neighborhood in Coral Springs on Monday morning shortly after takeoff from Fort Lauderdale’s executive airport.
A resident’s security video caught the moment the plane plunged into a lake after narrowly avoiding houses. Officials said nobody on the ground was injured.
Wurm was the founder of Ignite the Fire, a Cayman Islands-based Christian ministry that supports the empowerment of youth in the Caribbean. He had made multiple trips to Jamaica in recent days to deliver humanitarian relief in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, the devastating category 5 storm that made landfall on 28 October.
According to a post to his personal Facebook page on 2 November, Wurm, an experienced aviator, had only recently purchased the plane. “It can carry a lot and it is a very reliable aircraft. Perfect for the mission to bring relief goods into Montego Bay and the plane is ready just in time,” he wrote.
“We are in absolute shock and disbelief,” said Sean Malone, the director of Crisis Relief International (CRI), an aid agency with which Wurm had been working, in a video statement on Facebook.
“When this hurricane happened, he didn’t hesitate – he sprung into action and did what he could with what he had in his hand. He saved lives and he gave his life for the people of the nations that were on his heart.”
Undated video accompanying the statement showed the plane on the ground in Montego Bay, with workers unloading boxes.
Ferrin Cole, CRI’s team leader in Jamaica, said partnering with Wurm and his daughter had been “an honor”.
“He kept showing up over and over, repeatedly flying in supplies that we couldn’t get anywhere else,” Cole said. “Here in Jamaica, he just kept landing and we would unload his plane – he would give us these huge hugs and pray for us.
“He just delivered a bunch of medical supplies, water filters, screws for roofs, so many things that this community has needed. He wanted us to know Jesus, that was his reason for helping people.”
A statement on Ignite the Fire’s Facebook page called Serena Wurm “a beacon of empathy and hope, inspiring all with her commitment to humanitarian work” – and said she was following in her father’s footsteps.
“Alex leaves behind his beautiful wife, Candace, and two children, son James, 17, and daughter Christiana, 20,” the statement added.
Recovery operations at the scene of the crash were continuing on Tuesday after crews worked overnight to try to locate and retrieve wreckage of the plane, a 1976 King Air that can seat up to 12 people.
According to FlightAware, a flight-tracking website, the plane traveled regularly over the last week between George Town, Cayman Islands, where the Wurms lived, and Montego Bay and Negril airports in Jamaica. It landed in Fort Lauderdale on Friday.
The bodies of the victims, believed to be the only persons onboard, have not yet been recovered, officials said. Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board will look into the cause of the crash.
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