Over six hours of searching failed to locate a twin engine Cessna Britten Norman Islander plane that went missing earlier yesterday over the Region 8 (Potaro-Siparuni) jungle with the pilot and cargo handler on board.
The Air Services Limited (ASL) plane, piloted by 28-year-old Nicolas Persaud ceased communication about two minutes after takeoff from Mahdia to Karisparu, both in Region Eight at around 11:45am yesterday. Also onboard was 51-year-old cargo handler David Bisnauth. The flight time from takeoff to landing is approximately 15 to 25 minutes.
ASL Manager Annette Arjoon-Martins told Stabroek News late yesterday that her company exhausted search measures but there was no sighting of the aircraft whose registration number is 8R-GHE. “Within half an hour of no communication, we sent in four aircraft in the area that started a search, we then dispatched both of our helicopters for a total of six and they searched until sundown but nothing, nothing as yet,” she said.
“There were also ten officers from the GDF’s (Guyana Defence Force) Special Force and they will be on call from daybreak…while we have exhausted all resources trying to locate the aircraft all is not lost as yet,” she added.
Stabroek News understands that the plane was shuttling mining cargo from Mahdia to Karisparu and had onboard fuel, jet parts and zinc sheets among other items.
The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) in a press release said that the plane took off from Mahdia at 11:42 local time on a routine local cargo flight and the last known position was a Spot Tracker hit at 11:44am. The aircraft, it said, was estimated to arrive Karisparu at 12:00 local time.
“At 16:20, Timehri Air Traffic Control made contact with the aircraft operator to establish whether the aircraft landed before implementing a search and rescue operation. After no information was received, the Air Traffic Control commenced the ‘alert phase’ and the Rescue Coor-dination Centre at the Timehri Control Tower was activated,” the statement said.
According to the GCAA, in the meantime, two of ASL’s Cessna 208 Caravans flying within the area were vectored to commence searching for the aircraft. A Piper Cherokee from Hinterland Aviation also joined the search efforts while a Bell Helicopter also departed Ogle Airport to join the search. The agency informed that the search continued until sunset and said that the helicopters and a Cessna Caravan are at Mahdia and will recommence search at sunrise today. Other aircraft from ASL will depart early this morning to join the search efforts and take in the GCAA Coordinators and Investigation team. The GDF helicopter is also on standby to join the search and rescue operation.
“To date, 6 hours and 40 minutes search time was logged by four (4) fixed wing aircraft and two (2) helicopters,” the GCAA said.
On social media, many persons expressed hope and prayed for the rescue of Persaud who they described as “a remarkable young man.”
Arjoon-Martins said that Persaud’s brother and father spent the afternoon at their Ogle office and were kept abreast of all that was happening. She said that while he was young, he had several thousand hours of flying time and was familiar with the area in which he was flying.
She said that she would not speculate on what went wrong and is praying that come today, the duo will be rescued and all will be well.
