Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force, Brigadier Omar Khan told members of the media at a press conference on Wednesday, that the search and rescue mission for the missing seven servicemen will continue today Thursday December 7. The search and rescue operations conducted on Wednesday were significantly affected by bad weather conditions and rough terrain.
The GDF Bell 412 aircraft went missing yesterday. The missing Bell 412 aircraft which is one of the two new Bell aircrafts recently acquired by the Guyana Defence Force was on a command mission to visit troops stationed on Guyana’s western border. Brigadier Khan noted that the officers on board the aircraft were among Guyana’s best. The occupants of the aircraft were Brigadier (retired) Gary Beaton, Colonel Michael Shahoud, Lieutenant Colonel Sean Welcome, Staff Sergeant Jason Khan, Lieutenant Colonel Andio Crawford, Corporal Dwayne Johnson and veteran pilot Mike Charles.
The search and rescue operations were activated after communication was lost with the aircraft and an ELT signal which is an emergency signal was emitted. The Chief of Staff stated that “whenever an ELT signal is emitted on any aircraft it signals an issue. An ELT signal is triggered based on a crash landing, hard impact or it can be triggered manually.”
While acknowledging that the incident has caused additional anxiety in light of recent acts of aggression by Venezuela in relation to its claim of the oil and mineral rich Essequibo region of Guyana; the army Chief of Staff asserted that there is no information to suggest that the aircraft was taken out of the sky by Venezuela
The Guyana Defence Force has been in communication with the relatives and family members of the missing servicemen and has also informed its US, Brazilian and RSS partners on the search and rescue mission. Brigadier Khan noted that additional assets to aid in the search and rescue mission will be deployed today as the need arises.