National Security Advisor, Captain Gerry Gouveia, has indicated that it will be the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, President Irfaan Ali who will decide on the release of the accident report into the crash of the GDF Helicopter last December, which claimed the lives of five servicemen.
In a statement on his Facebook page today, Captain Gouveia explained that the accident investigation division of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority has completed its report, and by law, the report will be distributed to all relevant stakeholders for a period of 90 days before it is made public.
He said it is crucial to emphasize that this accident did not involve a standard commercial flight, but rather, it involved a military-owned aircraft which was engaged in a mission related to national security, with military personnel onboard.
Gouveia said the decision to release the accident report will rest with the Commander in Chief, who will take national security considerations into account.
A number of military officials and aviation officials contacted today by News Source said the National Security Advisor’s position is “odd”. One official said there have been previous accidents involving military aircraft and in all of those accidents, the completed final reports were released to the public.
It was pointed out that it is the Minister responsible for Transport who would authorize the release of the final report in keeping with the law.
It was recently announced that a preliminary report into the deadly crash has been completed and has been dispatched to stakeholders for their study and input. Once that process is completed, it is expected that the report will be made public.
The investigation into the accident was done over a period of 10 months and included detailed interviews with the two survivors.
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