The tight-knit Bahamian music scene is engulfed in grief after a devastating plane crash last week took the lives of ten people on board, including five core members of the popular local group Da Pond. For Khreasel Glinton, a 35-year-old Bahamian musician, the tragedy brings an unfathomable double loss: her long-term partner and soulmate Rashad Storr, and four other band members she had grown to love as chosen family.
Storr, 35, and his Da Pond bandmates were traveling to North Andros on a Friday afternoon for a scheduled performance at a local regatta. The short flight, operated by Flamingo Air, was projected to take less than 20 minutes to reach the destination near San Andros Airport. Instead, the aircraft went down shortly before landing, leaving no survivors among the ten passengers and crew.
Glinton, who had built a five-year relationship with Storr centered on their shared love of music, opened up about the overwhelming waves of sorrow that have consumed her in the days since the crash. “It is heavy on the mind, because sometimes I don’t even know who I might be crying for or who I might be screaming for,” she shared in an interview. “When it comes on me, all I could do is cry.”
The couple shared a life intertwined both on and off stage: Glinton often performed as a fill-in singer for Da Pond, gradually building deep, lasting bonds with every member of the group. The pair had weathered personal challenges together, shared a vision of marrying and starting a family, and saw each other as each other’s closest confidants. “He was my best friend. I didn’t want to be anywhere else. He didn’t want to be anywhere else. It was just us two in our own little world,” Glinton said. She remembered Storr as a kind, patient partner who dedicated himself to making her happy, and had long held onto the hope that they would spend their lives together.
The morning of the crash was just another ordinary day for the couple, who were heading to separate performance engagements. Glinton was bound for the Turks and Caicos Islands with the Da Rhythm Band, while Storr traveled with Da Pond to North Andros. Storr dropped Glinton at her airport terminal before heading to catch his own flight, and the pair continued to exchange playful text messages after Glinton landed in Turks and Caicos.
Glinton recalled joking with Storr about her pilot’s bumpy handling of the InterCaribbean Airways flight, with Storr teasing back that the pilot was just navigating air pockets. That lighthearted exchange was the last communication they would share. Before Da Pond boarded their flight, Storr messaged Glinton one final time, and Glinton asked him to text her when the group landed. She never got that message.
When a mutual friend first shared news of the crash with Glinton, she refused to believe it. Desperate to confirm the report was false, she reached out to a Da Pond singer who had traveled to Andros on an earlier flight. As calls flooded in from friends and community members checking if Glinton had been on the doomed flight, her band director eventually confirmed the devastating truth that Storr and his bandmates had not survived. Even after seeing video footage of the crash site, Glinton said the loss still feels impossible to process. “It still felt so unreal, and then they started sending like videos of the crash, and I’m just like, this can’t be happening. I just looked at him this morning. I just kissed him this morning,” she said, holding back tears.
Glinton returned to her home in New Providence on Sunday, supported by her fellow band members as she struggled through overwhelming anxiety during the flight. In the days since her return, she has not been able to bring herself to step into the apartment she once shared with Storr. She has also canceled multiple upcoming performances, as any connection to music now brings immediate, painful memories of the five Da Pond members lost in the crash.
Alongside Storr, the crash claimed the lives of Da Pond members Giovanni McKenzie, Mateo Winder, Toniquea Gilot and Tra’vis Johnson. Glinton shared tender memories of each band member: McKenzie was one of her earliest and most loyal supporters when she launched her music career; Winder stepped into a big brother role, always offering guidance when she needed it; Johnson was remembered for his magnetic personality and one-of-a-kind captivating voice. The memory of Gilot brought fresh tears to Glinton, who recalled the singer’s beautiful voice and warm spirit, and shared that Gilont had reached out to her just moments before the doomed flight to request a song recording. “The last thing she said to me was that she appreciate me,” Glinton said, her voice breaking with grief.
The tragedy has left a permanent hole in the Bahamian music community, as friends, fans and fellow artists mourn the loss of five talented creators taken far too soon.