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Officials probe crash that killed singer Aaliyah
( 2001-08-27 11:03 ) (7 )

probe into Rock n Roll singer's death

Authorities in the Bahamas investigated the crumpled, mud-spattered wreckage of a small Cessna plane on Sunday for clues into what caused a crash that killed US singer and actress Aaliyah and eight others on a Florida-bound charter flight.

"The investigation is ongoing," said an officer in the police department at Marsh Harbour, the small town on the Abacos islands where the plane crashed on Saturday evening.

The twin-engined propeller plane crashed into swampy scrub and burst into flames just 200 feet from the runway at Marsh Harbour airport shortly after taking off for Miami.

Police said the plane had apparently experienced engine failure as it took off, but it was not yet known what caused that.

The 22-year-old R&B star, whose full name was Aaliyah Haughton, was on her way back to the United States after completing filming of a music video in the Abacos, in the northern Bahamas about 170 miles east of South Florida. The nine people killed in the crash were all US citizens.

A statement issued through PMK, the singer's public relations firm, said: "Aaliyah's family is devastated at the loss of their loving daughter and sister. Their hearts go out to those families who also lost their loved ones in this tragic accident."

UP-AND-COMING SENSATION

Aaliyah, an up-and-coming sensation, sold a million copies of her debut album "Age Ain't Nothing But a Number" in 1994, and more recently the single "Try Again" became a big hit.

Just last month, she released her third album, "Aaliyah," and one of her latest projects was to have been an appearance in a sequel to the cult movie "The Matrix."

Blackground, Aaliyah's record label, which is distributed by Virgin Records, said it "is devastated with the loss of our Queen. The example she showed young people will be sorely missed and we hope her short time on earth will be an inspiration to young people all over the world."

Virgin added in a statement, "Aaliyah, one of the world's brightest and most talented stars, will be mourned by all who loved her and loved her music. Her depth and versatility as an artist was matched by the passion and devotion she had for her craft."

Bahamas aviation authorities were conducting the crash investigation. In Washington, the National Transportation Safety Board said it would send an investigator to the islands on Monday in response to a request for assistance from the Bahamas government.

"An eyewitness said the plane lifted off, climbed steeply into the air, then shortly after, it banked to the left and ditched into the bushes," Leland Russell, assistant superintendent of the Abacos police, said.

"On impact, the plane burst into flames, some of the persons on board were badly burned," he said.

Seven people, including Aaliyah, were declared dead at the scene, and two others who survived with severe burns died later of their injuries, Brian Bachman, public affairs officer at the US Embassy, told Reuters.

He said preliminary police reports said the Cessna apparently experienced unexplained engine failure as it took off for Opa-Locka airport on the outskirts of Miami.

`TOTAL WRECKAGE'

Rescue workers were able to get quickly to the scene, but the plane was a "total wreckage," Russell said. The bodies of the dead were taken to Nassau, the Bahamian capital.

Bachman said some bodies had not yet been identified as they were badly burned.

The plane was operated by US company Blackhawk International Airways, said police in the Bahamas, a winding chain of some 700 islands that stretch some 600 miles from the east coast of Florida to just north of Haiti. Its population is about 300,000.

Aaliyah was born in Brooklyn, New York, but moved to Detroit when she was 5. She began performing at an early age and by the time she was 11 she was singing in Las Vegas with the legendary Gladys Knight troupe.

After her teen-age album success in 1994, Aaliyah embarked on a tour that took her to Europe, Japan and South Africa. "One in a Million," released in 1996, pioneered a new R&B sound that tended toward computer-generated backing tracks instead of live instrumentation. Her film debut came opposite Chinese martial arts legend Jet Li in the hip and violent "Romeo Must Die."

AALIYAH LATEST MUSIC STAR PLANE DEATH

Aaliyah was the latest in a long line of music stars to die in plane crashes. Fatalities include bandleader Glenn Miller, whose plane disappeared on a flight from England to France in late 1944 during World War Two.

Rock `n' roll stars Buddy Holly, J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson and Ritchie Valens, who was just 17, died in 1959 when their plane crashed shortly after a concert in Iowa. Soul singer Otis Redding died in 1967 when the plane in which he was traveling crashed into a lake in Wisconsin. Singer-songwriter Jim Croce was killed in a 1973 plane crash in Louisiana.

Rock band Lynyrd Skynryd's lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines died in a 1977 plane crash in Mississippi. Country and ballad singer John Denver died at the controls of his light aircraft off California in 1997.