No trace of missing aircraft

Nov 03, 2008 News

…search intensifies

The search is still on for the missing twin-engine aircraft and its three occupants, which disappeared on Saturday afternoon in the Mazaruni area.
The United States-registered plane, No.N8-7V, was doing uranium survey work for Prometheus Resources Guyana Inc., a subsidiary of U308 Corp. of Toronto.
Those aboard the plane, named ‘Beach King,’ are pilot James Barker, First Officer Chris Paris and Canadian technician Patrick Murphy.
Barker and Paris are American citizens.
Yesterday’s search proved futile, as the search team came up empty handed.
Speaking with Kaieteur News from the Rescue Coordination Centre in the Air Traffic Control Tower, Timehri, last evening, Minister Robeson Benn said that seven aircraft were dispatched to the area yesterday.
According to the minister, almost the entire surveying area was flown over at varying degrees, whilst landing strips within the area were ‘checked out.’
The two British helicopters remained in the area last evening.
Minister Benn added that weather conditions caused some amount of hindrance to the search-and-rescue operations yesterday.
Kaieteur News was told that the plane was flying over rough terrain near the Venezuelan border when it disappeared.
Reports stated that the control tower at Timehri made contact with the occupants at 14:15 hrs on Saturday.
The plane, which departed from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, was scheduled to return at 18:15hrs.
When the plane failed to show, authorities dispatched the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) sky-van along with planes from private airline companies, as well as two British helicopters which are currently in Guyana as part of a GDF/ British Army training program, to the area to determine the whereabouts of the plane.
Head of the Civil Aviation Authority, Zulfikar Mohamed, said that the helicopters are from a British parachute regiment.
He added that assistance has since been sought from the South American Satellite System, but no electronic signal has as yet been picked up.
The missing aircraft is white with red stripes.
Meanwhile, the Guyana Police Force has issued a release asking anyone who may have seen the aircraft to contact the police on telephone numbers 225-6411, 226-2917, 225-2700, 226-4585, 911, or the nearest police station.
U3O8 Corp. is a Canadian junior mineral exploration company based in Toronto, Canada. It is currently focused on uranium exploration in Guyana.
U3O8 Corp., through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, is engaged in the business of exploring with the intent of developing mineral resource properties in Guyana.  To date, Prometheus Resources (Guyana) Inc. (an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of U3O8 Corp.) has been granted two Reconnaissance Permits, the CM Permit (Permit A) and the PMCR Permit (Permit B), by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission to conduct geological and geophysical surveys on adjacent lands covering an area of approximately 1.33 million hectares in western Guyana.