The search for the Air Services Limited (ASL) plane that went missing almost two weeks ago over the jungle in Region Eight, was suspended yesterday after incessant rainfall hit Mahdia.
A team of Guyana Defence Force soldiers was flown into the area from Timehri on Wednesday to join a ground search for the plane, its pilot and its cargo handler.
The plane lost contact with air traffic controllers on December 28, 2014 as it was travelling over the Potaro-Siparuni jungle. Communications were cut about two minutes after takeoff from Mahdia to Karisparu, both in Region Eight, at around 11:45am.
Captain Nicholas Persaud, 28, and David Bisnauth, 51, the cargo handler, were onboard that plane.
Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday, Bisnauth’s sister, Nalini Bisnauth, said it is becoming scary for her family as the days go by. “It’s 12 days and they can’t find that plane in that small area,” she said, before adding that the man’s nieces and nephews were missing him a lot and fearing the worst.
She said they are in constant contact with the soldiers that were dispatched to Mahdia and were told yesterday that the heavy rainfall had stalled the search party. “I can’t blame them. It’s raining heavy. I hope they find them. It’s been days.”
According to the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority, Special Forces’ ranks, Guyana Forestry Commission officers and line cutters, over the previous three days, had been expansively combing a large area between North Fork and Black Water rivers.
Villagers of Mahdia have also joined the search.
