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“I am heartbroken and drowning in grief at the fate (removal) of some of our best men in uniform,” said President Irfaan Ali in a statement posted on social media, and calling the loss “incalculable.”
Ali identified the dead as a retired brigadier general, a colonel and two lieutenant colonels. The two survivors, including the pilot, were not immediately known.
Prime Minister Mark Phillips said authorities were still trying to determine what caused the helicopter to crash, and officials stressed at a press conference on Wednesday that there was no indication showing a burning fire.
“We have to find out what happened. Search and rescue has now changed to search and recovery,” Phillips told the Associated Press.
Army chief Brig. Gen told. Omar Khan told reporters late on Wednesday that Guyana’s Defense Force lost contact with the new Bell 412 EPI aircraft after taking off from the Olive Creek base in western Guyana after the oil supply.
The disaster in the mountains and jungles is the worst in Guyana’s military history.
It happened at the time of increasing relations between the nations and Venezuela on a large region called Essequibo, which is rich in minerals and is located near a lot of oil. The region is close to the border with Venezuela, which Essequibo claims as its own.