Eight firefighters arrested for stealing items from crashed plane

Eight firemen were arrested this afternoon after it has been reported that they removed items—cash and gadgets—from the Boeing 757-200 plane that crash-landed at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) this morning.

The items that were removed belong to passengers and crew members. The pilot of the plane has reported that he lost cash and a cellular phone.

The Guyana Standard has been informed that one of the firemen has admitted to taking one of the gadgets and has since surrendered it.

According to information received, the items were removed when the fire-fighters were assisting passengers off the plane this morning.

Fire Chief, Marlon Gentle when contacted, confirmed that the pilot reported that his cash had been stolen.  Other persons subsequently came forward with reports of mostly stolen gadgets.

The matter has since been handed over to the Guyana Police Force and Gentle promised that strict action will be taken against those found guilty.

Early this morning, a Boeing 757-200 plane—destined for Toronto, Canada with 118 adults, two infants, and eight crew members—crash landed at the CJIA. The passengers included one American, 82 Canadians, 35 Guyanese, one Pakistani and one Trinidadian.

Public Infrastructure Minister, David Patterson confirmed that the plane departed Guyana at 2:53 am and at 2:21 minutes, the pilot reported a hydraulic problem and requested permission to return and land on the airstrip.

Upon landing, the Guyana Standard was told that the plane’s brakes reportedly failed, causing the aircraft to crash land.

Director of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), Egbert Field, has confirmed that the black box of the Fly Jamaica aircraft—that crash landed—will be sent to the United States for decoding.

The black box, which is made up of two critical pieces of equipment—the flight data recorder and a cockpit voice recorder—is to be sent to the National Transportation Safety Bureau (NTSB).

The recorders are installed in planes to help reconstruct the events leading to an accident. The Cockpit Voice Recorder records radio transmissions and sounds in the cockpit, such as the pilot’s voices and engine noises while the Flight Data Recorder monitors parameters such as altitude, airspeed, and heading.