Much of Belize remains in shock over the sudden and tragic death of businessman Sir Barry Bowen¸64, and four other people, including two young children.  They were all killed in a tragic plane crash in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye on Friday evening.  Sir Barry Bowen was piloting his Cessna 206 aircraft with a Rolls Royce turbine engine for the 15 minute plane ride from the Belize City Municipal Airstrip to San Pedro when it crashed in the marsh and swamps of the DFC Subdivision on the southern tip of San Pedro.  Bowen was flying home from Belize City along with four passengers; Mike Casey, his wife Jill Casey, along with the couple’s two children, 2 ½ year old Makayla and five month old Bryce to San Pedro for a fundraiser at his Island Academy. 

Bowen was approximately half mile south of the airstrip when Javier Valladarez, who works at a boat yard in the area and watches the plane pass almost religiously daily at approximately 5:20, says he saw the plane coming too low.  He says Sir Barry attempted to ascend but the wing knocked three pipes on a barge in the area.  Tragedy unraveled next as witnesses say the wing on the Cessna was torn off and the plane spun several times before slamming on its back into the swamp. 

Desperate moments followed next as workers at the Captain Shark’s Boat Yard across the lagoon jumped into a boat and sped to the scene.  Kenneth Gabourel says they were there in less than a minute. The plane was wrecked and immediately they came across the body of a Caucasian male floating in the water.  He was injured but still gasping for breath and was carried to a dry area. The boatyard workers also had the grim task of retrieving the body of a toddler floating in the water which they initially assumed was a porcelain doll.  The body of the Caucasian male was later identified to be that of Mike Casey and the baby’s body to be that of his newborn son, Bryce. 

Still stuck in the fuselage was Sir Barry Bowen who was in the cockpit. In the rear cabin of the small aircraft was the body of Jill Casey.  She was hunched over the body of her two and a half year old daughter MaKayla, almost as if she was bracing for impact. The boatyard workers say it is a scene they will never forget. 

By nightfall on Friday, Police, Fire, and Traffic personnel had removed the bodies from the crash site and they were transported to Belize City on Friday night.  Department of Civil Aviation inspectors along with technicians from Cessna, the manufacturers of the aircraft, and Rolls Royce, the manufacturer of the plane’s engine, spent the weekend in addition to Monday and Tuesday investigating the crash. 
Sir Barry Bowen had more than forty years flying experience and flew daily from his home in San Pedro to work in Belize City.  He and his wife Lady Dixie Bowen have lived in San Pedro since the 1970s.  A memorial service was held on the island for Sir Barry Bowen on Monday afternoon during which Belize Rural South Area Representative and Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr. announced that after a planned renovation, the San Pedro Municipal Airport will be renamed the Barry Bowen Municipal Airport. 

The community school in Gallon Jug where Mike Casey, 32, was the principal and Jill Casey, also 32, was a teacher will be renamed in their honour.  They were travelling with Sir Barry Bowen for the fundraiser on Friday night.  The couple moved to Belize four years ago from Albany, New York and got married in Belize.  Their bodies will be flown back to Albany for burial.