Man and daughter flying hurricane relief supplies to Jamaica identified as victims of crash
The founder of a religious ministry and his 22-year-old daughter were identified as victims of a deadly plane crash in Florida on Monday while transporting hurricane relief supplies to Jamaica.
Alexander Wurm, 53, and his daughter Serena died when their twin-engine Beechcraft King Air crashed Monday morning in a residential area of Coral Springs, shortly after takeoff from Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.
A resident’s security video captured the moment the plane plunged into a lake after narrowly avoiding homes. Authorities said no one on the ground was injured.
Wurm was the founder of Ignite the Fire, a Cayman Islands-based Christian ministry that supports youth empowerment in the Caribbean. He has visited Jamaica several times in recent days to provide humanitarian assistance in the wake of Hurricane Melissa, the devastating Category 5 storm that made landfall on October 28.
“We are absolutely in shock and disbelief,” Sean Malone, director of Crisis Relief International (CRI), a humanitarian agency Wurm worked with, said in a video statement on Facebook.
“When this hurricane hit, he didn’t hesitate – he took action and did what he could with what he had. He saved lives and he gave his life for the people of the nations he cared about.”
An undated video accompanying the statement showed the plane on the ground in Montego Bay, with workers unloading boxes.
Ferrin Cole, CRI team leader in Jamaica, said the partnership with Wurm and his daughter had been “an honor”.
“He kept coming back, repeatedly bringing supplies that we couldn’t find anywhere else,” Cole said. “Here in Jamaica, he kept landing and we were unloading his plane – he was giving us huge hugs and praying for us.
“He just delivered a bunch of medical supplies, water filters, screws for roofs, so many things that this community 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 everyone with her commitment to humanitarian work” – and said she was following in her father’s footsteps.
“Alex leaves behind his beautiful wife, Candace, and his two children, his son James, 17, and his daughter Christiana, 20,” the press release added.
Recovery operations at the crash site continued Tuesday after crews worked through the night to try to locate and recover the wreckage of the plane, a 1976 King Air that could accommodate up to 12 people.
According to FlightAware, a flight tracking website, the plane traveled regularly over the past week between George Town in the Cayman Islands, where the Wurms lived, and Montego Bay and Negril airports in Jamaica. He landed in Fort Lauderdale on Friday.
The bodies of the victims, believed to be the only people on board, have not yet been found, authorities said. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate the cause of the accident.
