HGP NIGHTLY NEWS – A body, life jackets and an empty life raft were among the grim discoveries made during aerial searches following the MV Barima tragedy, the Commission of Inquiry heard.
Lieutenant Colonel Anson Weekes and Captain Andio Crawford of the Guyana Defence Force testified about reconnaissance operations conducted in the immediate aftermath of the July 18 disaster and during the weeks that followed.
Weekes told the Commission that he conducted approximately 10 coastal surveillance flights between July 20 and August 2. During one of those missions on July 20, he discovered one deceased person.
Crawford said other reconnaissance operations also resulted in crews spotting life jackets and an empty life raft along the coastline. “We saw one empty life raft along the shoreline,” he testified.
But the Commission also heard about significant challenges facing the GDF during its initial response.
Shortly after midnight on July 19, Weekes was called to assist with the search and made his way to the Eugene F. Correia International Airport at Ogle, where preparations were made to deploy a Bell helicopter.
The helicopter departed at approximately 1:45 a.m., with the crew receiving coordinates for the search while travelling towards the Essequibo Coast.
Those coordinates placed the target approximately 8.5 to nine miles offshore near Somerset.
However, Weekes said the single-engine helicopter could not fly directly over the designated coordinates because of restrictions governing its offshore operations.
Crawford confirmed the limitation, telling the Commission, “Based on the limitations of the aircraft, we were unable to enter into the search area.”
The crew instead conducted reconnaissance along the coastline and as far as the mouth of the Pomeroon River.
Visibility also presented a major challenge. Crawford described conditions as “pitch black,” telling the Commission that nothing could be seen despite the use of the helicopter’s lights.
Weekes subsequently coordinated additional aerial searches involving an Omni helicopter and an aircraft from the Regional Security System based in Barbados, but those operations reportedly yielded no sightings of survivors.
The testimony forms part of the Commission’s examination of the adequacy of the search, rescue and recovery operations mounted following the sinking of the MV Barima.
