Plane crashes into sea with 17 people aboard in Honduras
(ROATÁN, HONDURAS) — An aircraft crashed into the sea with 17 people on board in Roatán, Honduras, on Monday, according to local officials.
Honduras Civil Aviation confirmed that the accident occurred at 6:18 p.m. at Juan Manuel Gálvez International Airport. There were 15 passengers and two crew members on board, HCA said.
The Jetstream 32 was departing from Roatán with the intended destination of La Ceiba, which is located on the north coast of Honduras. Preliminary reports indicate that the plane crashed seconds after takeoff.
Honduran police said that they’re present at the scene and attempting to rescue those involved in the crash.
Honduran President Xiomara Castro released a statement saying that she activated an Emergency Operations Committee.
“They have immediately arrived at the scene of the plane crash that occurred 1 km from Roatán International Airport and are tirelessly assisting in the unfortunate incident,” she said in the statement.
“The public hospitals in San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba are now ready to treat injured passengers,” Castro added.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — Donald Trump returned to office as president on Monday, reassuming his duties as commander in chief. His position once again puts him in charge of the world’s most powerful military, which — often at his discretion — can either engage in lethal warfare or act as a deterrent and a force for peace.
How Trump behaved as commander in chief during his first administration may offer a guide for the next four years.
In Monday’s inauguration speech, Trump set the tone for a significant change in U.S. foreign policy that could have seismic implications for America’s friends and foes.
“Our armed forces will be free to focus on their sole mission — defeating America’s enemies,” he said.
His recent comments about taking over the Panama Canal and Greenland — refusing to rule out the use of military force to do so — raised eyebrows, along with referring to neighboring Canada as “the 51st state.” He also signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as “Gulf of America” on Monday.
“It was an intent to grab that media attention and put himself at the center of the news cycle,” retired Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, told ABC News. “This unpredictability means that all paths lead back to the Oval Office and his next statement.”
However, Trump’s slogans about making America great and putting America first may soon bump up against his need for the world to see him as a dealmaker. The war in Ukraine has been raging since 2022, but he’s promised to bring it to an end.
“Shortly after I win the presidency, I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled,” he said last August. “I’ll get it settled very fast.”
Trump warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that if the war doesn’t end soon, Ukraine could get substantially more aid.
At the same time, he has told Ukraine it won’t receive more U.S. support unless it enters into peace talks. Last week, White House budget director nominee Russell Vought declined during his Senate confirmation hearing to fully commit to doling out $3.8 billion in aid that Congress has already approved.
China’s threats against Taiwan and international shipping may also embolden Trump to show Chinese President Xi Jinping that America believes it has the upper hand militarily.
“He will always defer to a solution that makes him appear strong and in charge,” Lute told ABC News. “So I don’t think that there’s an easy way to simply walk away from a big competition with China.”
The situation at the border between the U.S. and Mexico is also top of mind, with Trump declaring a national emergency in his inaugural address.
“I will end the practice of catch and release and I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country,” he said.
The biggest difference in American foreign policy may be seen in the Middle East, and the war between Israel and Hamas. On Jan. 7, he created a deadline for a Gaza ceasefire deal in exchange for Hamas releasing hostages they took in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
“If the deal isn’t done before I take office, which is now going to be in two weeks … all hell will break out,” he said during a news conference.
Then, last week, the outgoing Biden administration — along with incoming Trump envoys — helped broker a ceasefire and hostage exchange that went into effect on Sunday. However, the agreement is fragile and fraught with pitfalls. In particular, it remains unclear who will govern Gaza if the peace lasts.
The images on the streets betray an uncomfortable reality. It’s still the gunmen of Hamas in charge — a situation unacceptable to the Israeli government. The Trump administration is also unlikely to accept Hamas being in control.
Beyond Gaza, the situation in the Middle East has gone through considerable changes since Trump was last president. Iran, a major power in the region, has seen many of its allies weakened by various conflicts.
Hamas has been left devastated and weakened by months of conflict with Israel. Lebanese political party and armed group Hezbollah — designated as a terror group by the U.S. — is a shadow of its former strength, with its leader Hassan Nasrallah killed in an Israeli strike in September.
Former Syrian President Bashar Assad also fled from his country, his family held power for more than 50 years, after his regime was toppled by a rebel offensive in December.
Amid this new balance of power, Trump wants to normalize diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Such a pact could bring peace and stability in the region — the Biden administration was working to broker this agreement prior to Hamas’ 2023 attack on Israel.
The Trump administration faces immense international challenges — and America going it alone may not be a viable option.
LONDON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of “prolonging the war” and “ignoring” U.S.-led efforts to agree to a ceasefire, as a first step toward ending Moscow’s three-year-old invasion of its neighbor.
Recent weeks have seen Kyiv and Moscow frame each other as the main impediment to peace, maneuvering to win backing from President Donald Trump as the White House presses for an end to the conflict.
Zelenskyy on Saturday reported a massing of Russian troops along the border with Ukraine’s eastern Sumy region. “This indicates an intention to attack,” Zelenskyy said. “We are aware of this, and will counter it. I would like all partners to understand exactly what Putin is planning, what he is preparing for and what he will be ignoring.”
“The buildup of Russian forces indicates that Moscow intends to keep ignoring diplomacy,” the Ukrainian leader wrote on social media. “It is clear that Russia is prolonging the war. We are ready to provide our partners with all the real information on the situation at the front, in the Kursk region and along our border.”
Fierce fighting and long-range strikes continued despite the U.S. peace push. Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 90 attack drones into the country on Saturday night. Forty-seven were shot down with 33 lost in flight, the air force said. “The Chernihiv, Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odessa regions were affected by the Russian attack,” it added.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down 31 Ukrainian drones over four Russian regions.
Last week, Ukrainian and U.S. negotiators agreed to a 30-day ceasefire. Moscow was non-committal, Putin saying he was “for” the agreement but setting out additional conditions for its implementation.
In Russia’s western Kursk region — where Ukrainian forces seized ground in a surprise August 2024 offensive — Moscow is seeking to cut off and destroy Kyiv’s troops. Russian officials have said no peace deal is possible until Kursk is recaptured.
The fighting in the border region prompted Trump to warn of “a horrible massacre,” adding he had asked Putin to spare the lives of the Ukrainian soldiers still fighting there.
Zelenskyy, his officials and commanders denied the suggestion that Ukrainian troops were cut off.
“Our troops continue to hold back Russian and North Korean groupings in the Kursk region,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media on Saturday. “There is no encirclement of our troops.”
Trump last week touted “very good and productive” discussions between the U.S. and Russia, for which Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to Moscow and met with Putin. There is, Trump said, a “very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by phone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday, according to a State Department readout. The two officials “discussed next steps to follow up on recent meetings in Saudi Arabia and agreed to continue working towards restoring communication between the United States and Russia,” the statement said.
It remains unclear whether Russia is willing to downgrade its long-held maximalist war goals. Trump has threatened to impose new sanctions and tariffs on Moscow if the Kremlin does not show a willingness to pursue a peace deal.
Yuri Ushakov, a senior foreign policy aide to Putin, said in an interview with state television aired on Sunday that Moscow views the proposed 30-day ceasefire an “an attempt to give a break to Ukrainian troops who are now enduring difficult times.”
“Russian troops are on the offensive on all fronts,” Ushakov said in comments that appear to have been recorded on Thursday when Witkoff was in Moscow. “And in this situation, we can view it as a sort of attempt to give time to Ukrainian troops time to rearm and regroup.”
Ukraine, meanwhile, appears to have somewhat repaired ties with the White House after a month of tensions culminated in a brief U.S. freeze on military aid and intelligence sharing.
Still, Zelenskyy has repeatedly stressed the need for lasting Western security guarantees backed by the U.S. — a commitment the Trump administration has so far dodged.
“Peace will be more reliable with the presence of European contingents on the ground, supported by the American side,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media on Saturday.
The Kremlin has dismissed the proposal, a stance Zelenskyy suggested should be ignored.
“It is also a very bad signal to listen to the opinion of the Russians regarding the contingent,” the president wrote. “The contingent should be stationed on Ukrainian soil. This is a guarantee of security for Ukraine and for Europe.”
“If Putin wants to introduce some foreign contingent into the territory of Russia, that is his business,” he added. “But it is not his business to decide something about the security of Ukraine and Europe.”
ABC News’ Patrick Reevell contributed to this report.
(TORONTO) — As investigators work to determine what caused Delta Flight 4819 to crash and overturn at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Monday, the Toronto Pearson president and CEO noted the “extreme conditions” at the airport in the days before the dramatic incident.
Toronto Pearson President and CEO Deborah Flint said that from Thursday to Sunday there were “extreme conditions” at the airport from two separate storms.
“On Thursday and Sunday, we got more than 20 inches, 50 centimeters of accumulated snow. That is actually not typical. In fact, it is more snow within that time window than we received in all of last winter,” Flint said at a news conference Tuesday. “There were many delays and cancelations across this part of Canada and the U.S. Northeast during this time, creating numerous flight delays and backlogs.”
“Monday was a clear day, though, and it was an operational recovery day for Toronto Pearson,” Flint said.
The plane, which departed from Minneapolis, crashed amid blowing snow and strong wind gusts in the Toronto area. Winds reached 40 mph on the ground and were even stronger several hundred feet in the air.
When asked if the weather could have contributed to the crash, Flint said, “This would not be a time for us to have theory or to speculate.”
Toronto Airport Fire Chief Todd Aitken said Monday that the runway was dry and there were no crosswind conditions at the time of the crash. When asked Tuesday if the runway had light snow or slush, he deferred the question to investigators.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is leading the investigation and investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are assisting. Investigators are expected to review the aircraft at its current position on the runway for the next two days, officials said Tuesday. They will also examine the runway.
Investigators have removed the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder — known as the black boxes — from the aircraft and sent them to a lab for further analysis, Transportation Safety Board of Canada’s Ken Webster said in a video update on Tuesday.
“At this point, it’s far too early to say what the cause of this accident might be. However, we will share more information once we’re able to,” Webster said.
The Delta regional jet — a CRJ 900 aircraft operated by Endeavor Air — touched down, set fire, flipped over and came to a stop upside-down. The 76 passengers and four crew evacuated.
Flint on Tuesday praised the flight crew, saying they “heroically led passengers to safety.”
She said she was grateful there was no loss of life or life-threatening injuries.
“I cannot commend enough the crew, the flight attendants, pilots and our emergency responders for their quick and effective response,” Flint said. “It’s really, really incredible, and when you see that aircraft, it just makes me really thankful.”
Twenty-one passengers were taken to hospitals, and as of Wednesday, 20 of them have been released, according to Delta.
Injuries range from minor to critical, but none are life-threatening, Flint said.
Injuries included “back sprains, head injuries, anxiety, some headaches, nausea and vomiting due to the fuel exposure,” said Cory Tkatch, commander of operations at Peel Regional Paramedic Services.
Three people suffered critical injuries: one child, a man in his 60s and a woman in her 40s, according to medical transport organization Ornge.
There were 22 Canadian citizens among the passengers, Flint said.
The Toronto Airport temporarily stopped flights in the wake of the crash, with departures and arrivals resuming at 5 p.m. ET Monday, the airport said. Two runways remained closed, which Flint said may impact operations.
“Our most pressing priority remains taking care of all customers and Endeavor crew members who were involved,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said. “We’ll do everything we can to support them and their families in the days ahead, and I know the hearts, thoughts and prayers of the entire Delta community are with them. We are grateful for all the first responders and medical teams who have been caring for them.”
Delta said Wednesday that it “will begin the process of reuniting customers with baggage and personal belongings as soon as possible after authorities have safely removed the items from the aircraft. Securing, identifying, sorting and cleaning all belongings left onboard could take a matter of weeks before all items can be safely returned.”
