Yesterday marked two weeks since the Air Services Limited (ASL) Britten-Norman Islander went missing but arduous searches have still so far yielded no sighting of the plane or two-man crew.
ASL General Manager Annette Arjoon-Martins last evening said that searches for the day were “not definitive” and that she will give a more detailed update this morning when ground crews return to the centre.
On December 28th last, piloted by twenty-eight-year-old Captain Nicholas Persaud and with 51-year-old David Bisnauth onboard, the aircraft lost communication with air traffic controllers about two minutes after its takeoff from Mahdia to Karisparu, both in Region Eight. It was around 11:45am in the morning and searches have been ongoing from then up to yesterday but to no avail.
Special Forces’ ranks, Guyana Forestry Commission officers and line cutters from St Cuthbert’s Mission have been combing a large area between North Fork and Black Water rivers. Villagers had also joined the search.
Director of Civil Aviation Zulficar Mohammed had told Stabroek News that he remained optimistic that by weekend the searches would see results as the teams were homing in on the areas of interests.
It is unclear how much of those areas are left to be searched and when it will be completed.
Questions also linger as to what happens when the areas of interests have been exhausted.
Bisnauth’s sister, Nalini Bisnauth, is counting the days, while hoping that the rescue team would find her brother. “It’s two weeks and my brother is nowhere to be found. I’m hoping that they will find him and the pilot,” she said.
Bisnauth said she is getting anxious as the days go by and she believed that the ground team should step up their search. “They are moving too slow to find them. We don’t know if they are injured or if they are dead. If he is dead what will they bring back to me?” she asked.
She said she was told that the air search had stopped and so they were depending solely on the ground team to find any sight of the plane. “I am very concerned about his safety and I have all hopes in the creator that he will come back, but at the same time I’m having doubts,” she said.
