INVESTIGATORS of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) who had travelled to Region 7 yesterday to investigate a plane crash are back in the city.

The Guyana Chronicle has been informed that the two aircraft which travelled to the crash site on Tuesday as part of the investigation returned to Ogle International Airport with the investigators on board.

While this newspaper has been told that the investigation might be focused on the engine and whether it had caused the mishap, that information was not confirmed by any of the players close to the investigation.

This publication was also informed that two of the injured persons underwent surgery, while another has been discharged. Efforts to have the GPHC comment on the condition of the pilot proved futile, since there was no one immediately available to share that information.

Four persons escaped a horrific death on Tuesday just after 11 hours, after the single engine light aircraft in which they were travelling fell out of the sky in Region 7. The survivors are Ivor Williams, Troy Daniels, Leon Bristol and their plane’s pilot Bernard Singh. They were the only persons aboard the plane at time of the mishap. The craft had shortly taken off from the Aura Airstrip in Region 7, and was at the time being operated by its owner, who is also the owner of several mining camps in Guyana’s interior. At the time of the accident, the man was reportedly heading to one of his mining camps with three of his employees on board.

While medical personnel related that out of the four injured, one seemed more critical, all of the injured were flown to the city last evening, and were rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital for medical attention. They were stabilised at the crash site by medical personnel from the Guyana Defence Force, who had travelled to the area in response to the GCAA request.

Speaking with this publication at the Georgetown Public Hospital on Tuesday evening, one of the injured explained that he could not really recall what had transpired, but he explained that he worked as a miner with the pilot of the plane.

Immediately after the distress call was made from the pilot’s satellite phone, the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority activated its search and rescue coordination centre; and moments later, the Guyana Defence Force, which is also part of the National Search and Rescue Coordination Unit, dispatched a helicopter and two medical personnel into the area to attend to the injured and to have them stabilised. They were also accompanied by investigators of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority.
The downed aircraft, with registration number N87619, was easily spotted; and getting to the injured was not much of a challenge, compared to a more recent case when the rescue centre was activated.

Tuesday’s operation saw the crash survivors being brought out from the wreck area to the airstrip from whence their flight originated. They were then transported to another airstrip, since that airstrip was a very small one that could accommodate only small planes like the one they fell out of the sky with.
BY Leroy Smith