Eleven passengers rescued after plane crash-lands in Atlantic Ocean

An Air Force rescue team is recounting the dramatic moments after helping save 11 people whose private plane crash-landed in the Atlantic Ocean east of Florida.

(CNN)- An Air Force rescue team is recounting the dramatic moments after helping save 11 people whose private plane crash-landed in the Atlantic Ocean east of Florida.

“It’s just another day of work, another day of training,” Air Force Pararescue Captain Rory Whipple said. “But this time, instead of training, it was real world.”

According to the FAA, the Beechcraft BE-30 Super King Air 300 had taken off from Marsh Harbor in the Bahamas and was headed to Grand Bahama International Airport when it went down. Rescue crews said the aircraft’s emergency locator beacon sent out a distress signal after the crash.

The U.S. Coast Guard and Air Force quickly responded, including an HC-130 rescue aircraft that happened to be on a nearby training mission.

“We got notification from tower that there was a possible downed aircraft,” Major Elizabeth Piowaty said. “We set up a search pattern, and within minutes we located the raft.”

Officials said the survivors had been stranded in a life raft for nearly five hours before rescue teams reached them.

“You can tell just by looking at them, yeah, they were in distress, physically, mentally, emotionally,” Captain Whipple said.

Rescuers dropped additional life rafts and survival equipment into the water before pararescue teams jumped in to assist the survivors directly.

“As a fixed wing pilot we train to that, but I’ve not known anyone to survive ditching in the ocean,” Piowaty said.

The Coast Guard confirmed all 11 people aboard the plane were successfully rescued. The survivors were flown to Melbourne, Florida, where they were taken to a hospital for evaluation.