THIRTEEN persons, including a female pilot, escaped death when the Air Services Limited Cessna aircraft in which they were travelling, 8R ANS, crash-landed at the Matthew’s Ridge Airstrip in Region 1.

The Guyana Chronicle was informed that the plane had taken off from the Ogle International Airport yesterday morning at approximately 07:00 hrs, and was attempting to land at the Matthew’s Ridge Airstrip during bad weather when it missed the runway.
Transport Minister, Robeson Benn told this publication yesterday that his initial information suggested there were eleven persons onboard, including the female pilot. He said the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has been mandated to thoroughly investigate the incident, including its cause and recovery.
This newspaper was told that Captain Feriel Ally was piloting the crashed aircraft. She suffered several lacerations to the face and hands, while a male passenger suffered a broken right leg.
All involved in the accident were transported to the Ogle International Airport yesterday morning, shortly after the accident was reported. The injured were rushed to several different city hospitals, including the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
The crashed aircraft is said to be totalled. Numerous efforts to contact Managing Director of Air Services Limited, Mrs Annette Arjune-Martins, for an official comment in respect to the crash were futile.
Earlier this year, the image of the local aviation industry was hurt after a plane conducting surveys crashed into a house at Plaisance, East Coast Demerara, shortly after takeoff from the Ogle International Airport. That incident, which claimed the lives of the two persons who had been aboard the ill-fated aircraft, occurred just days after the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority had wrapped up a month of activities to mark 100 years of flying in Guyana.