The pilot made an emergency water landing after successive failures aboard the aircraft – the 11 passengers remained in a life raft for five hours waiting for help.

The U.S. Air Force carried out a dramatic rescue operation involving 11 people who were stranded in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean off Florida’s east coast after an aircraft made an emergency water landing on Tuesday (12/5).

Eleven people who survived a plane crash off the Florida coast floated in a life raft for five hours before a military rescue team was able to safely get everyone out of the water.

ABC News’ Matt Rivers reports. https://t.co/rdXqu4K3xn pic.twitter.com/womWoGzJbw

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More specifically, according to the BBC, during a routine 20-minute flight between two islands in the Bahamas, the aircraft suffered a series of failures: first the navigation system malfunctioned, then the radio, followed by one engine and finally the other. The plane was traveling from Marsh Harbour in the Abaco Islands of the Bahamas to Freeport on Grand Bahama.

“I couldn’t communicate with anyone by radio for quite some time. I tried to call Freeport (Bahamas), I tried to contact Miami radio. I don’t know if they could hear me, but I got no response,” the pilot, Ian Nixon, told CBS News.

Unable to find a safe place to land, the Bahamian pilot decided to ditch the aircraft in the ocean about 289 km north of Miami — a last-resort maneuver used when there are no other options.

“As soon as I hit the water, my first thought was: ‘We didn’t die,’” Nixon said.

A difficult ordeal followed aboard a life raft, as the pilot and passengers put on life jackets and waited for hours before rescuers located them.

Nixon tried to encourage the ten passengers: “I told them, ‘Within the next 10 minutes, a plane will come.’ Then one of the passengers said, ‘Wait, did I hear something?’” It was the distant sound of a helicopter from the U.S. Air Force’s 920th Rescue Wing.

“I don’t know anyone who has survived an ocean ditching”

The unit had been on a training mission when it changed course to assist in the search-and-rescue operation after receiving a distress signal about a possible emergency.

“They had already been on the raft for about five hours. Just by looking at them, you could tell they were in distress — physically, mentally, and emotionally,” said Captain Rory Whipple.

Rescuers raced against time to transport all passengers safely before the helicopters needed to refuel.

“I don’t know anyone who has survived an ocean ditching. And from what I’ve seen, the fact that all these people survived is a miracle,” noted Major Elizabeth Piowaty, one of the aircraft commanders involved in the rescue.

“We thought we were going to die — it was like a movie scene”

All 11 people on board were taken to a hospital in Florida. Only three suffered minor injuries.

“We were all happy to be saved because we thought we were going to die. It was a scene exactly like something out of a movie,” said Olympia Outten, one of the plane’s passengers.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the crash.