Head of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) Zulficar Mohamed has refuted reports that the missing US-registered aircraft has been found.
According to a report on last evening’s edition of Prime News, the plane had been sighted and efforts would be made today to reach the area where it was found. However, when Stabroek News contacted Mohamed last evening, he denied that the plane had been located. According to him, yesterday’s search by two aircraft and the foot patrol proved futile.
Mohamed said that unfortunately the foot patrol was not able to reach the “interest area” that had been identified due to a mix up with the co-ordinates. He said that the helicopter will have to return to the area and another attempt will have to be made to get the accurate co-ordinates for the location. The area in question had been identified by the helicopter employed in previous searches because of the presence of damaged trees in the vicinity.
The search will continue today and today’s effort is expected to be boosted by a new aircraft which was scheduled to arrive in the country last evening. This aircraft is owned by Dynamic Aviation (who owns the missing aircraft) and is equipped with a special camera which can take quality overhead pictures which can be further examined.
The missing aircraft, a Beech King Air, last made contact with the Control Tower at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri at 3:06pm on Saturday. On board were pilot, Captain James Wesley Barker, 28, and First Officer Chris Paris, 23, both US citizens and Canadian Patrick Murphy, a Geophysics technician.
