It's the type of nightmare that no passenger would want to experience, and in his first interview since the accident, Deputy Prime Minister Faber described the entire accident to the press this evening. Here's what he had to say:

Hon. Patrick Faber, Deputy Prime Minister
"So we left Belize as I mentioned and we stopped in Dangriga and took off uneventfully to Placencia and dropped off passengers there. I was in deep discussion with my colleague Christry Mastry and BIL. It was a BIL event as well and really even moving off the runway and looking to take off was pretty uneventful. This is, again, something that is routine. I couldn't tell that anything was wrong when the plane was taking off from Placencia until we heard the loud crashing sound and then realized quickly as we continue to ascend that there was a problem; that something was terribly wrong. We ascending I think for another few seconds, maybe up to a minute, and then realized that we were going to go down pretty fast. I think the pilot lost the engine and we then decided to brace for impact. All that was going through my mind was that this can't be real, this can't be happening - this is something that I'm sure everybody who rides one of these planes, think about all the time, but you never really believe it is going to happen and here it was happening. So I contemplated that and try to do my best to prepare my mind for a crash landing"

"The landing itself I will say was not that bad, at least not for me. I would have to imagine not that bad for any of the other passengers either, because nobody was hurt to that extent. This is after you evaluate what has happened. I think the pilot did a very skillful job. If you consider all that could have gone wrong. The fact that the plane has been hit by a car - that could have spun it over. The fact that it is up in the air and you have to make now a landing in the sea that could flip the plane. It could have been that we were upside down trapped inside, water getting in, the seatbelts won't open as a result of the rumble or the turn over."

"I really believe that the pilot did a very, very skillful job at landing the plane in the manner in which he did. But the most difficult part for me is when we touched the water. I will tell you that I am a non-swimmer so that became a problem for me and I was sitting immediately behind the pilot and so the pilot opened the door that is alongside him and then I got out of the water. By that time put on my life vest and I had my knapsack which is equip with the compartments for computers and iPads and all of this. So I was able to float on that for just a few minutes before it became soak and started going down. It was then that I was helped. The pilot helped me and also Miss Mastry to get on the wing and that was where I stayed until the plane itself started going down further and further."

"The outpour of support and the outpour of concern was tremendous and it's a good feeling to be loved you know. It was in deed very heartwarming to received and to read after all that happened the many, many concerns, the many messages, the many outpourings of love that came and of course I was very relieve to receive all of that and to know that I would be able to see those people again and to say thank you, I appreciate the concern that you showed, because it could easily have been another way."

Faber told us that he is expected to fully recover from the physical discomforts of the accident. Other occupants of the plane suffered minor injuries.

The Deputy Prime Minister told us that his biggest concern in the accident was the rescue effort, which was not as immediate as the circumstances required. As you heard, he said that he is a non-swimmer and he was worried about being trapped in deep waters for an extended period of time.