KINGSTOWN, St Vincent -- A search crew last night turned up wreckage believed to be that of a small charter plane that dropped off the radar Sunday night in St. Vincent, reports from the island said, shattering hopes that the two people on board could have survived.
The small SVG Air aircraft reportedly disappeared with two on board on approach to the ET Joshua Airport around 6:55 p.m. Sunday, the Searchlight newspaper said yesterday. Last night searchers turned up parts of a fuselage they claimed was part of the plane. Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves yesterday had said the Regional Security System and French authorities had joined local coastguard in the search around Bequia. The Searchlight claims the plane was piloted by, Dominic Gonsalves and that a company employee, Rashim Ibrahim-De Silva, 28, was also on board when contact with the Control Tower at the airport was lost.
SVG Air is a St. Vincent and the Grenadines corporation, which has operated since 1990. According to the charter air’s website, SVG Air is owned and operated by the Barnard and Gravel families. Its CEO is former pilot Martin Barnard whose son-in-law, Captain Paul Gravel, is head of operations whilst another son-in-law, the missing Captain Gonsalves, serves as a pilot. The company is based in St. Vincent, Barbados, St. Lucia and Grenada and has its own hangar and maintenance facility on the nearby island of Bequia.
It operates scheduled and charter flights throughout all the islands of the Caribbean, in particular between Barbados, Nevis, Bequia, Canouan, St Vincent, St. Kitts, St. Marten, Union Island, Mustique, Grenada, St Lucia, St Barts, Anguilla and Martinique, but also as far a field as Guyana and Jamaica, the company website added.
