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Investigators said the Bahamian pilots who met their demise in a deadly crash over the weekend, appeared to have flown a stolen plane.

Police said two foreign pilots have since filed a stolen plane report at the Marsh Harbour Police Station on Tuesday and reported their plane stolen from the Treasure Cay Airport.

According to police, the two foreign men said they flew the plane from the Dominican Republic on Friday and were scheduled to leave Abaco on Monday.

A police statement said “The plane was reported arriving in Treasure Cay, Abaco on Friday, July 2, 2021 and was scheduled to depart on Monday, 5 July 2021 when the airplane was said to be stolen.

The Tribune said based on a report from a senior police officer, the two men have since left the country.

The incident has baffled investigators since the Bahamian pilots appeared to have gone through the normal procedure and presented documents to custom officials before their doomed departure.

State of play

The Bahamian pilots were not authorized to fly that particular type of plane as one was a student pilot and the other had an airline transport licence.

Flying this particular plane requires “a type rating certification” which requires additional training beyond their first instruction.

The big story

The Bahamian pilots identified as Jason Allen and Lavan Paul, also former Royal Bahamas Defence Force officers were killed after the plane they piloted blew up soon after takeoff from the Treasure Cay airport on Monday afternoon.

A video in circulation showed the wreckage, fully engulfed in flames in bushes in Treasure Cay.

The airplane is estimated at $300,000.”

Officials have confirmed the death of two pilots onboard a plane that crashed in Treasure Cay, Abaco on Monday afternoon.

According to the Nassau Guardian, police said the pilots onboard the plane “perished.”

The plane crash occurred sometime after 3:30 and is seen in a video, fully engulfed in flames.

Abaco reporter Silbert Mills showed the burning wreck of the plane as smoke billowed from the brushes where the plane plummeted.

The victims onboard the plane are believed to be Jason Allen and Lavan Paul.

According to the Nassau Guardian, Aviation Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar said the plane arrived from The Dominican Republic and was headed to Nassau.

A flight tracker shows that the pilots left The Dominican Republic on Friday at 2:03 in the afternoon and arrived in Treasure Cay, Abaco an hour and 42 minutes later where they stopped over.

The tracker shows that the pilots were expected to leave Abaco for Nassau at two o’clock on Monday.

According to police, Abaco officers discovered the burning wreckage in bushes some distance away from the Treasure Cay Airport.

Police said its initial report indicates that the airplane was seen taxiing and a short time later, smoke and fire were seen billowing from the plane.

The cause of the crash remains unknown.