A Cessna 208B Grand Caravan passenger plane sustained substantial damage in an accident near Anse-Bertrand, Guadeloupe. There were no significant injuries. Flight FWI706 departed Pointe-…-Pitre (PTP) on a flight to Saint-Barth‚l‚my (SBH). The airplane took off at 15:06. Eleven minutes later, while climbing through an altitude of 7000 feet, the pilot heard an explosion-like noise followed by a sharp drop in engine power. He shut down the engine and feathered the propeller. The airplane was over sea, at about 13 NM (24 km) from the nearest coast. The pilot turned around and attempted to restart the engine. After failing to get the engine running, he prepared for an emergency landing. After gliding for eight minutes, the airplane passed the coast line. At about 950 feet, the pilot chose a sugar cane field for landing. At 19:26 the plane hit the ground and skidded about 35 m before coming to rest. CAUSES OF THE ACCIDENT: The accident was due to the failure of one or more CT blades through creep that led to the in-flight shutdown of the engine. The causes of the creep could not be determined. It could have been caused by exceeding the engine’s threshold temperature during operations or by non-detection during a maintenance operation.