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Four injured after another plane crash
A rescue team was yesterday dispatched to the Region Seven community of Arau following another plane crash, involving a single engine light aircraft which, according to reports, crashed shortly after taking off from the area’s airstrip.
One passenger, Ivor Williams, is said to be seriously injured, while the pilot, Bernard Singh, 44, of Strathspey, East Coast Demerara, and other passengers; Troy Daniels and Leon Bristol, 24, of Nabaclis, East Coast Demerara, are said to have suffered minor injuries.
They were flown to the city by army personnel and later housed at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
Kaieteur News understands that the pilot and the three men who were identified as his employees were the occupants on board the United States-registered civil utility Piper Cherokee, which is a privately-owned plane. The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) informed that the crash occurred around 11:14 hours yesterday.
The newspaper understands that Guyana Defence Force (GDF) ranks were also dispatched to the crash site and conducted the evacuation of passengers from the valley where the plane went down, to the Kaikan airstrip, which is closest to the accident site. The Piper Cherokee was said to have been operated by Singh, a Guyanese pilot.
A GCAA press release said that army medical personnel were flown on a Britten Norman Islander from Ogle to Kaikan. Accompanying them were investigators from the GCAA who remained at the crash site “to comb through the wreckage for possible clues for the crash”.
“The privately owned Piper aircraft N87619, owned and operated by Bernard Singh, crashed after takeoff from Arau airstrip around 11:14 am with four persons on board. It was reported that three persons received minor injuries while the injury to the fourth person is considered serious,” the release said.
It was stated also that a GDF helicopter located the crash site “almost immediately after private operator Emile Jahan of Hinterland Aviation Inc. who was flying in the vicinity was able to pinpoint its Global Positioning System (GPS) location.”
GCAA activated the Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) on receipt of a distress message via satellite telephone from the pilot of the downed aircraft. The agency said that Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn, and key personnel from relevant agencies, were updated continuously at the RCC.
It is unclear whether the aircraft was conducting commercial or private flights, since information is that the operators are supposed to be operating here in a private capacity.
The investigations process has commenced.
GCAA said that the pilot was in constant contact with the Rescue Coordination Centre, Timehri Control tower. According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) information out of the US, the registered owner of the craft is Shannon Singh of Queens, New York.
Yesterday’s crash is the third in recent months.
Early last January, a Cessna 206 flipped at the Ogle Aircraft resulting in the pilot and three passengers suffering minor injuries. A Cessna Caravan crashed later that month in the densely forested Mazaruni location, claiming the lives of Canada-born pilot, Blake Slater and local cargo loader, Dwayne Jacobs.
The GCAA is yet to conclude either of those investigations.
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