Following Monday’s plane crash in the vicinity of the Matthews Ridge airstrip, north west district, Air Services Limited (ASL) is yet to issue any formal statement as to what could have gone wrong with the Cessna Caravan.
ASL General Manager, Annette Arjoon-Martins did ask Stabroek News to be patient while the company gathers
more information. She reiterated that the authorities were now charged with their own investigation and once more information was discovered the media would be alerted.
The Director General of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), Zulfikar Mohammed yesterday told Stabroek News over the phone that the authority would not be providing much information as an investigation has begun.
He said that for now the events leading up the crash were routine noting that the aircraft left the Ogle International Airport and “as the aircraft approached Matthews Ridge it crashed and landed.”
Mohammed said that “at this time we don’t make any speculations as to what happened.
We don’t speculate. We make conclusions after an investigation and facts”. He said that as it stands the crash site is the jurisdiction of the GCAA. Mohammed said he could not at this point determine how long the investigation will take noting that all witnesses and passengers had to be questioned.
Mohammed did not comment on Monday’s weather conditions. On Tuesday Works Minister Robeson Benn said that weather may have been a factor considering the plane crashed “about a mile south” of the runway.
The crash saw all twelve persons including Captain Feriel Ally, who has over 20 years of flying experience, escape without life threatening injuries.
Stabroek News has learnt that one passenger suffered a broken leg and is currently being treated at Woodlands Hospital.
The aircraft registered as 8RAMS, was said to have circled the airstrip around 8:00hr before it fell from the sky into the thick bush.
A Trans Guyana Airways flight was a few minutes away and as a result deviated from its flight path to assist the crash survivors. ASL was unable to dispatch another plane as the weather did not permit and the second plane would have taken too long to get to the survivors.
Crash reports can take months to complete, the GCAA has yet to finish one in relation to the April crash which destroyed a Sparendaam home. The American registered Piper Aztec, N27FT ran into engine trouble and crashed killing the American pilot identified at 71 year old Pierre Angiel and Nick Dimitriev, 54, a Canadian technician who was part of a surveying team for the Amaila Falls Access Road.
