More than two years after a deadly Guyana Defence Force helicopter crash claimed the lives of five servicemen, the Government of Guyana appears set to keep the findings of the investigations top secret.

There have been continuous and growing calls for the report into the deadly crash to be made public. Just this week in the National Assembly, MP Amanza Walton Desir of the Forward Guyana Movement and MP Terrence Campbell of A Partnership for National Unity renewed calls for the report to be released.

However, in responding to those calls last evening, Minister of Aviation and Public Utilities, Deodat Indar said that because the aircraft was owned by the Guyana Defence Force and the flight was controlled by the military, the incident would be exempted from public release of the findings of the report.

“When you have a flight that is controlled by the army of state, it is government by the Chicago convention, and it says aircraft used in military, customs, and police services shall be deemed state aircraft and because of this, which country that has military operation disclose to the public when you have incidents or accidents. Find a country. It is a military operation within the virtue of the National Security Board”, Indar said.

This is the first time that the Government is pointing in the direction that it may not disclose the findings of the deadly helicopter crash. Government officials had made previous statements which indicated that the report would have been released upon completion of the investigations.

While five servicemen died in the December 2023 incident in the bordering area with Vezezuela, there were also two survivors who continue to serve the military. 

While the Guyana Defence Force provided information on the crash in its aftermath, it has been very protective of the statements from the two surviving servicemen.

Those who lost their lives in the helicopter crash were Commander of the 1st Infantry Battalion, Col. Michael Shahoud, Veteran Pilot, Lt. Col. Michael Charles who was in command of the helicopter, Lt. Col. Sean Welcome, retired Brigadier Gary Beaton along with Sgt. Jason Khan.

It is suspected that pilot error might have contributed to the crash.

Related posts:

Defence Board and not President will decide on release of GDF Helicopter crash report Draft final report of GDF helicopter crash completed Information from probe into fatal GDF helicopter crash likely to be made known within a month Preliminary Report on GDF Helicopter crash to be completed soon