Cayman pastor and daughter killed in Florida plane crash en route to Jamaica for hurricane relief

The Cayman Islands is mourning the loss of Pastor Alexander Wurm, 53, and his daughter Serena, 22, who died when their relief aircraft crashed in Coral Springs, Florida, on Monday morning. The Beech B100 King Air plane, packed with humanitarian supplies for hurricane-stricken Jamaica, went down moments after departing Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.

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Pastor Wurm, founder of Ignite the Fire Cayman, was on his third relief mission to Jamaica, joined by his daughter Serena. The father-daughter team had departed Owen Roberts International Airport in Grand Cayman earlier, with strong support from local churches, the Wurm Family Foundation, and civic groups. Together, they gathered and packed medical supplies, generators, solar panels, battery packs, tarps, and advanced communications gear, including a Starlink satellite system.

Their mission had already taken them to Montego Bay, where they distributed supplies alongside Youth With A Mission (YWAM Jamaica), Crisis Response International (CRI), and Jamaica’s Ministry of Health & Wellness. In a post shared just before the fatal flight, Pastor Wurm expressed his excitement: “Ignite is excited to fly generators, screws, tarps, battery packs, StarLink comm. systems and other desperately needed supplies to help rebuild Jamaica tomorrow!”

Jamaica’s Transport Minister Daryl Vaz confirmed that the plane, registered as N30HG, did not have permission to land in Jamaica.

“I can confirm that the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority has advised me that there was an application made by the said plane, N30HG, to land in Montego Bay at the IAM Jet Centre by email on November 10th. The IAM Jet Centre replied advising of the requirements for a permit to be issued and was not responded to. Therefore, no permit to land in Jamaica was granted,” Vaz said in an update Monday evening.

Despite that, he noted that the aircraft had previously made two trips to Jamaica since Hurricane Melissa.

“We were advised by the Civil Aviation Authority through their Navigational Service Division that there was a flight that took off out of Florida this morning that crashed. We have no details on the pilot or passenger or cargo at this point, but we can confirm that the applicant would have done two trips to Jamaica through Cayman to Jamaica since Melissa. We await further information from the U.S. authorities,” Vaz added.

The crash occurred just before 10:20 a.m. near the 5000 block of Northwest 57th Way, west of State Road 7 and south of the Sawgrass Expressway. Coral Springs Fire Rescue said a dive team searched the lake but found no survivors or large wreckage.

“We have not found an entire plane yet; we believe that it may be broken into smaller pieces,” Deputy Fire Chief Mike Moser said during a briefing, noting that the investigation was still in its early stages.

Officials later confirmed that both people aboard the twin-turboprop aircraft were killed. No one on the ground was injured. Video footage from CBS Miami’s Chopper 4 showed debris scattered across several backyards, along with damage to trees and a fence before the plane plunged into a man-made pond.

Several nearby roads were closed as police and emergency teams worked to clear the area. Residents were urged to avoid the crash zone and report any debris, as aviation fuel odors were expected to persist.

Authorities from the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, and the Broward Sheriff’s Office are jointly investigating the cause of the crash.

Pastor Wurm is survived by his wife, Candace, and their two children, Christiana, 20, and James, 17.