Ninety-five days have since passed the last deadline given by Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill for the official report of the 2023 helicopter crash, which took five lives, to be publicly addressed.
Edghill had stated on February 4th that this would have occurred within 30 days and former minister of public infrastructure David Patterson has asserted that the government is in “breach of the law” by withholding the findings of the investigation into the crash. His comments came in response to questions from Stabroek News regarding Edghill’s failure to release the report, despite multiple self-imposed deadlines. Efforts by this newspaper to get a commitment from the minister on the report’s release have so far been unsuccessful.
Patterson, who held Edghill’s portfolio under the David Granger administration from 2015-2020, highlighted his role in tabling the new Civil Aviation Bill during his tenure. He explained that the legislation, developed with input from a special select committee, led to the establishment of an independent Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) within the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).
“No one can say that they did not have the opportunity to contribute to that,” Patterson stated. He emphasized that the AAIU’s creation was in direct alignment with recommendations from international bodies such as the International Civil Avia-tion Organization (ICAO) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), ensuring its independence.
While administratively falling under the GCAA for matters like salaries, Patterson clarified that the AAIU reported directly to the minister. He recalled that during his time, the unit was headed by “a very competent woman, Ms McAdam.”
Under the established regulations, the AAIU is mandated to independently investigate any aircraft incident. Patterson explain-ed the standard procedure: “Then the report is presented to the stakeholders… for comment.” He cited past instances where this pro-cess was followed for both local and international incidents, including a Flight Jamaica and Carib-bean Airlines on-land collision and investigations into smaller aircraft mishaps.
Crucially, Patterson stressed: “The regulations and the law state that after sending to the stakeholders, whoever they may be, the parties, interested parties, the finalized report is sent to the minister and by law, you are supposed to make it public.”
He stated the international convention behind this principle: “The idea behind this… is that people and the industry can learn from accidents. And that is an international convention we have signed on to.
“So the mere fact that the government and the minister have not published it… is in breach of the law and in breach of the regulations… the several excuses that they have provided do not hold water.”
He further asserted, “If the report has been done, and if both sides have been able to comment on it, and which we know for sure that has happened, by law, they are supposed to make it public and it’s supposed to be issued on the website of the GCAA so that the entire world can see it and learn from any mistakes that may happen.”
Patterson implied that the delay suggested deliberate concealment of information. “Obviously, there are things in there that they don’t want revealed,” he said. “When you start to see things like that… There could be other contributing factors which may lead directly to the stewardship of the government again. And that’s why it has not been made public.”
Drawing parallels to other unreleased government data, Patterson added, “This is nothing new. The census, still awaiting the census… We’re heading into elections and we can’t even have our census.”
Questioned by this newspaper about the delay, Edghill had previously said, “It will be out when I’m finished with it, I don’t work with Stabroek News, I don’t work on Stabroek time.”
In January this year, stakeholders were given until January 10th to submit comments on the crash to Airworthiness Inspector Krishnanand Ramlachana. Edghill had indicated that these comments would be incorporated into the final report.
The tragic helicopter crash claimed the lives of five members of the Guyana Defence Force: Brigadier (retired) Gary Beaton, Colonel Michael Shahoud, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Charles, Lieutenant Colonel Sean Welcome, and Staff Sergeant Jason Khan. Two other individuals, Lieute-nant Andio Crawford and Corporal Dwayne Jackson, survived the crash and were subsequently rescued from the wreckage.
According to the Ministry of Public Works, the search and rescue operation commenced after a distress signal was received from the helicopter via the Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking system at the Timehri Control Tower at approximately 11:20 am on the day of the incident. The GCAA activated the National Rescue Coor-dination Centre at 11:45 am in response, dispatching search teams and re-sources. However, adverse weather conditions initially hindered the operation, leading to a temporary suspension of the search.
Search efforts recommenced on December 7th 2023 at 5:00 am, with five aircraft, including the GDF Skyvan and Bell 412, and a team of 27 personnel from the GCAA, deployed to locate the crash site. The wreckage was located at approximately 10:40 am. A Special Forces team, led by Colonel Howell, was later inserted 800 metres from the crash site and successfully reached the wreckage, rescuing the two survivors.
