CABINET Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon said yesterday that according to additional information provided to Cabinet, mobilization after Caribbean Airlines Flight BW 523 crashed at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport was comprehensive, by both the national rescue team and that of the carrier. Dr. Luncheon, who is also Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS) made this pronouncement at his weekly post-Cabinet press briefing.
He noted that Cabinet offered its commendations to Minister of Transport and Hydraulics Robeson Benn for his command of the scene and the deployment of response resources.
The HPS said, “Cabinet also noted the arrival and presence of the Trinidadian Prime Minister and her team of Ministers who visited the scene, and the arrival of regional and international experts who would contribute to the mandatory investigations that are currently ongoing.”
According to Luncheon, Cabinet is of the opinion that those investigations, when completed, would contribute to establishing the cause of the crash landing.
He noted too that the most preliminary observations about interventions at the scene suggest aggressive action to remove the squatters directly in the path of the extended runway, as their presence would be affected in similar accidents in the future.
Following the accident on Saturday, Minister Benn also pointed to the ongoing issue of squatting on the parameters of the CJIA, and noted that the accident served as an indication of the dangers that this practice poses, not only to the residents of these dwellings, but to the safety of passengers and staff of the airport.
Caribbean Airlines Boeing 737 flight 523 from Piarco to CJIA landed at 13:32 hrs on Saturday morning, and overran the end of the runway with 154 passengers and six crew members on board.
The aircraft broke in two after it over-ran the runway during landing and broke through the airport parameter fence.
Immediately after the incident, an investigation was launched by the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority, in collaboration with the Caribbean Aviation Safety Oversight System (CASSOS), the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Boeing, the manufacturer of the aircraft.