See Terrifying Video of Hawaiian Plane Crash From Inside the Cabin
Hawaii's state health director Loretta Fuddy was the only fatality.
Jan. 10, 2014— -- Dramatic video of a plane crash that killed a woman off the coast of Hawaii last month shows the moment of impact and an orderly evacuation of the fuselage by passengers, who used plane debris to stay afloat as they waited to be rescued.
Passenger Ferdinand Puentes, 39, was on the 2002 Cessna Grand Caravan and captured the footage of passengers' bracing for impact moments before the plane crashed into the water Dec. 11.
The plane departed from Molokai, Hawaii, bound for Honolulu with nine people on board. Hawaii's state health director, Loretta Fuddy, 65, was the only fatality.
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"We heard a bang," passenger Jacob Key told ABC News affiliate KITV-TV. "While the thing climbed up to make a turn. Then bang, that's it."
Puentes continued to keep the camera rolling after the crash as the fuselage immediately filled with water.
"Just as soon as he opened the door, water just rushed and filled our feet up to our ankles," Puentes told ABC News.
In the video, the passengers can be seen making their way out calmly.
"There wasn't panic or anything. It was very orderly. It wasn't like any of the movies or the TV shows," passenger C. Phillip Hollstein Jr. told The Associated Press.
Out in the water, they clung to the wings and debris of the plane with the camera still rolling.
"The water was rough. The pilot was trying to get everybody together but it was kind of impossible because of the waves," Rosa Key, another passenger, told KITV.
In two groups, they floated for an hour in choppy waters.
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"It was as if time stopped and everything you remembered in your past -- loved ones. I didn't say goodbye to them. Your whole life just goes in front of you," Puentes recalled.
While in the water, Puentes took a picture of himself with his bright-yellow life preserver nestled closely around his neck.
One of the passengers managed to swim ashore while the others waited it out until the rescuers finally arrived.
"It gave me a little hope when we saw the first plane. The one that came and circled around," passenger Key said.
The passengers were eventually rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard. Authorities say the cause of the crash was likely engine failure.
Meanwhile, Fuddy's death in the crash fueled conspiracy theories because she was the public official who released President Obama's birth certificate in 2011 after repeated inquiries, proving he was born in the United States.
Fuddy made it out of the sinking plane fine, but died after escaping. It's unclear what caused her death.
Passengers credited the pilot, Clyde Kawasaki, for landing the plane right-side up, which allowed passengers time to exit.
"The way how he handled the flight and everything, he kept his calm, it's just amazing how he did it," Puentes said. "He is my hero."
