Caribbean Net News

Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com

Four die in Turks & Caicos plane crash

Thursday, December 29, 2005

PROVIDENCIALES, Turks & Caicos Islands: The lives of four young men ended tragically on Monday afternoon when their airplane crashed shortly after take off from the South Caicos Airport in the Turks & Caicos Islands.

Reports coming out of a press conference Tuesday with government officials, including Governor Richard Tauwhare and Chief Minister Michael Misick, indicate that at 6:34 pm on Monday, December 26, 2005, a Piper Aztec aircraft, registration N44DA, owned and piloted by Carson Hoyte Garland of South Caicos departed South Caicos Airport for Providenciales.

On board the aircraft were Carson Hoyte Garland, Paul Cartwright, Robert Cox, and Cleverson Forbes.

A synopsis of the accident as provided by the department of civil aviation notes that at 6: 45 pm the tower operator at the South Caicos Airport informed the police that the Piper Aztec aircraft had crashed shortly after take off.

At 7:18 pm police officers from Grand Turk headed by A/Superintendent Alboin Williams, responding to the incident, landed on South Caicos.

Prior to the arrival of the police in South Caicos, local fishermen and residents of South Caicos led by officers from the Department of Environment and Coastal Resources deployed to attempt rescue and recovery.

At 7:23 pm the US Coast Guard out of Inagua was deployed and headed for the area.

At 7:31 pm the Police left the South Caicos Dock for the crash site.

At about 9:50 pm the US Coast Guard found the wreckage of the aircraft within a half-mile northwest of South Caicos Airport.

At about 10:30 pm the US Coast Guard chopper lowered Sgt. Darron Williams of the Police Department onto the crash site where he immediately reported that all occupants of the aircraft had perished.

Recovery work is said to have continued throughout the course of the night and the bodies of the four men were brought to the South Caicos morgue.

The cause of the accident is being investigated. Meanwhile assistance has been sought from the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority. Inspectors were expected to arrive Wednesday.

Chief Minister Misick, who is also Minister responsible for Civil Aviation, expressed on behalf of the government sincere sympathies to the family of the four young men who perished. He mentioned the feeling of shock not only the residents of South Caicos have felt, but the entire nation to have lost four citizens at once.

Governor Tauwhare, also took the opportunity to reassure the family of the bereaved of his support and prayers as they try their best to come to grips with such a tragedy. He sought also to commend the action of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force for their swift and efficient response to the rescue and search operations. He noted that lessons have been learnt from the incident and improvements will be made in certain areas

Mr. Peter Forbes of the Department of Civil Aviation noted that the aircraft that crashed was new to the TCI and therefore local authorities have no history on the aircraft. Investigations will be done, however, as they try to salvage as much information as possible into what could have caused the airplane to go down.

Chief Minister Misick stressed that the Civil Aviation Department is extremely stringent in enforcing its regulations and takes the safety of the public it serves seriously.

Throughout the course of yesterday, Chief Minister Misick along with members of his cabinet and the Governor, in a show of support, visited the homes of the families who lost loved ones.

Previous Page Print This Page.