Latest update April 7th, 2025 12:02 AM
Latest News
- High Court bars GRA from seizing Team Mohamed’s luxury vehicles
- Oil spill will hit Guyana’s shores before capping stack arrives to plug leak
- UN says 100 children killed or injured in Gaza every day since war resumed
- Guyana received US$605M oil money in first quarter of 2025
- ‘Tariff war’ spells grave danger for the Region – CARICOM Chair Mottley
Tug mishap exposes…Country’s search and rescue deficiencies
….Army’s key assets inoperable in time of need
The sinking of the Chrisann V has revealed several glaring deficiencies as it relates to Guyana’s Search
Public Works and Transportation Minister Robeson Benn
and Rescue capabilities even as three of the missing men are still to be located.
The Bell 412 which would have been the ideal aircraft to undertake such a search and rescue operation could not have been deployed given that the chopper is currently inoperable with overseas technicians expected to arrive in two weeks to service the rotor blades.
One of the Bell 206 helicopters which is the lighter helicopter purchased by the administration, was also inoperable while this publication was reliably informed that the other one was on a commercial flight.
Minister of Transport and Public Works, Robeson Benn, yesterday said that he could not confirm that the chopper was on any commercial flight on Friday and said that the reason that it was not used was the inclement weather which would have been prohibitive.
The small aircraft which the Army discovered on an abandoned airstrip and resuscitated was up to recently inoperable and had flown less than five times in the past year.
The Inter-American Development Bank in 1999 had given Guyana a $30M loan to support a comprehensive air transport sector improvement programme that includes regulatory and institutional reforms, investments in infrastructure and institutional modernization.
This, the Minister said, had yielded a policy paper which is still to be finalized.
The loan was geared to assist the Ministry of Public Works and Communications to undertake a thorough review of the statutory, regulatory and institutional framework of the sector and in taking steps to increase private sector participation in operating air transport facilities and services.
“We have a search and rescue policy document which up to last year was being reviewed and finalized through the Office of the Prime Minister.”
While the Minister lamented a near 16-hour lapse before any official report of the tragedy was made, this publication understands that the first resort available to the authorities is a communication network that should lead to the mobilizing private resources.
The Minister conceded that the administration is constrained by the resources available saying that “what can be afforded” is what is being utilized.
Benn said that the Bell 206 that was deployed yesterday, in optimum conditions effect a rescue mission and has supplies that it could drop off if a sighting is made.
This publication however understands that the Bell 206 is incapable of effecting such a rescue operation and could only search in a limited radius search zone.
Lieutenant Commander with the Coast Guard Orin Porter as he explains some of the challenges associated with the current search
Unlike a previous occasion when the CGX Bell 412 was called in, the search and rescue operation could not have employed this method to take part in the current search and rescue operation given that they have been deployed on the oil rigs and are already in operation.
Speaking to the current rescue operation, Minister Benn did point out that there are small vessels being utilized from both Maritime Rescue and the Coast guard.
Lieutenant Commander with the Coast Guard, Orin Porter, had pointed out that the vessels operated under his command at coastguard, while they are small in size (25 feet) operate with heavy duty (200HP) outboard engines and have onboard “general survival supplies.”
“Maritime has a boat which they hired at the moment…they have it on continuous hire to always respond,” said Benn.
He said that there are plans in train to have an offshore coast guard station established off of the mouth of the Pomeroon River and should be in place within a month’s time.
The Minister did seek to point out that any aircraft can be called in during a search and rescue operation “whether it’s private or nationally owned.”
The Minister insisted that there are no deficiencies in the local search and rescue operations but conceded that this is taking into account the fact that “we have a search and rescue environment based on what we can afford.”
He said that even if the assets are in place and are operable the search and rescue team may not be able to respond immediately. The impression being created is that the assets should have been ready and waiting to be deployed, he said, but stressed that information on the incident is critical in a response.
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