Home Top Stories GDF deadly helicopter crash: 3 officers’ bodies severely burnt, 2 others die...
Lieutenant Colonel Michael Charles, Retired Brigadier Gary Beaton and Lieutenant Colonel Sean Welcome were severely burnt while Colonel Michael Shahoud and Sergeant Jason Khan died from multiple injuries, the post-mortem examinations have revealed.
According to the Guyana Police Force, the post-mortem examinations were conducted on Monday between 10:00h and 11:45h by Government pathologist, Dr Nehaul Singh.
Pilot of the helicopter, Lt Colonel Michael Charles was burnt beyond recognition and was identified by his name tag on part of his uniform that was intact. Retired Brigadier Gary Beaton was also burnt beyond recognition and was identified by his dentures.
Lieutenant Colonel Sean Welcome died from burn injuries, the post-mortem revealed.
Police said DNA samples were taken from the burnt victims and their relatives and their bodies were handed over to the relatives for burial.
Of the seven servicemen who went missing when the helicopter crashed in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) on December 6, only two men survived
Lieutenant Andio Crawford and Corporal Dwayne Jackson were extracted from the crash site on December 8, after two days and multiple thwarted attempts by the search and rescue team to rescue them.
In the presence of President Irfaan Ali and other senior officials at the Eugene F Correia International Airport on Friday, the caskets carrying Brigadier (Ret’d) Gary Beaton, Colonel Michael Shahoud, Lieutenant Colonel Sean Welcome, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Charles, and Staff Sergeant Jason Khan, were taken from a GDF Skyvan by their comrades and transported to awaiting hearses.
Brigadier Beaton was the project engineer; Colonel Shahoud, an attorney-at-law, was Commander of the 1st Infantry Battalion; Lt Col Charles was the pilot; Lieutenant Colonel Welcome was Commanding Officer of the Reserve Battalion; and Staff Sergeant Khan was from the 31 Special Forces Squadron.
At about 11:20h on Wednesday, an Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) signal was received, but because of rough terrain and adverse weather, the search and rescue team was only able to reach the site on Thursday at about 14:30h.
