The Bahamas is mourning after a plane crash claimed 10 lives, including five members of a beloved local music group whose songs had become a fixture of the islands’ cultural celebrations. Da Pond Band, known for performing at community festivals throughout the archipelago, lost the core of its lineup in a disaster that has left the surviving members reeling and the surrounding community searching for words.
The plane, a Cessna 402 operated by Flamingo Air, went down in dense brush in North Andros on Friday, July 10 — Bahamas Independence Day — shortly after leaving Nassau on what should have been a roughly 20-minute flight to San Andros. All 10 people aboard were killed; Prime Minister Philip Davis initially said one person had survived but later confirmed that victim died of their injuries. Among the dead was popular disc jockey Melvin Henfield, known as DJ Fresh.
The Bahamas’ Aircraft Accident Investigation Authority said the plane “encountered difficulties and crashed into bushes before landing” and is investigating the cause. The government temporarily suspended Flamingo Air’s operating certificate after the crash.
The Core of the Band
Five members of Da Pond Band died in the crash. Band leader Giovanni McKenzie was among the dead, along with lead guitarist Rashad Storr, bass player Mateo Winder, lead singer Travis Johnson and Tonique Gilot. Together, the five formed the engine of a group that had built its reputation on the stages of Bahamian community events, delivering the kind of music that fills a regatta with life.
One of the group’s singers, Lamar Polhamus, said the band had lost “the core, the heart, and the life of the band.” He asked for patience as the surviving members try to absorb what has happened, describing the road ahead as long and difficult and requesting space, time, support and prayers from those who had followed the band’s music over the years.
Shaniese Miller, one of the surviving musicians, said the band members had always stuck together like a unit, describing a group that operated less like a collection of performers and more like a family.
Headed to Celebration
The musicians had been headed toward the All Andros and Berry Islands Regatta, an annual event that celebrates Bahamian culture and heritage through music, sloop/boat racing and food. Instead of taking the stage, the group was among those killed when the aircraft went down.
Events like the All-Andros and the Berry Island Regatta serve as gathering points for Bahamian communities, blending sailing traditions with celebrations of heritage and identity. Music sits at the center of those festivities, and Da Pond Band had become part of that tradition — the sort of act whose presence signaled that the party had begun.
A Nation in Mourning
The loss has cut deeply across a nation where regatta season draws families from island to island and where live bands are woven into the fabric of the festivities. The band’s absence from the stage will be felt not just by fans but by the culture the regatta was built to honor.
Beyond the musicians, the crash killed 10 people in total, a toll that ripples far beyond the band’s circle. Each of those lives represents its own family, its own community and its own set of connections severed in an instant. In a nation as tightly knit as the Bahamas, where islands are small and reputations travel quickly, a loss of this size touches nearly everyone in some way.
The regatta the band was set to play was meant to be a moment of joy and connection. Instead, it has become bound up with mourning, a reminder of how swiftly celebration can turn to grief.
For now, the emphasis remains on the people lost: McKenzie, Storr, Winder, Johnson and Gilot, five musicians who spent their careers bringing Bahamian audiences together. Their music, and the joy it created at events like the regatta, stands as a testament to what the community has lost. The band that always stuck together like a unit now confronts the hardest chapter in its history — one it never expected to face.
