What a pity Mr. Da Silva did not write about his experience

Nov 27, 2012 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
The Wednesday 21st edition of Prime News, reporting on one hundred years of aviation in Guyana, mentioned Captain Dhanraj and his co-pilot of G.A.C ,who perished when their plane crashed.
On that flight was a man named Compton Da Silva who was the third crew or porter who survived the crash.
At the time of that plane crash in the late seventies Guyana hadn’t helicopters, so even though the authorities knew that Da Silva was alive, the Guyana Defence Force had no way of rescuing the survivor. Of course the soldiers did try to chop their way to Da Silva, but the jungle was too dense.
To rescue Da Silva, the Guyana authorities had to seek help from Jamaica. While the helicopter was coming to Guyana (it took about three days to arrive) Compton Da Silva spent all the time in the rain-soaked jungle.
As one soldier who was involved in the rescue operation told me, Da Silva’s hands and fingers were so cramped he couldn’t hold the rope that was dropped to him, so a special device was used to lift Da Silva bodily into the aircraft.
What a pity Da Silva did not put his experience of that fateful event on paper before he died. It would have made interesting reading.
W.P. George

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