Some wreckage recovered on Sunday, body of co-pilot not yet spotted
PHILIPSBURG:--- Head of the Civil Aviation of St.Maarten Luis Halley, Head of the Coast Guards Glen Werleman, and Minister Ted Richardson were among the persons who came in from Puerto Rico to assist St. Maarten with the search for the Skyway Aircraft a SHORT 36 that crashed just off the coast of St. Maarten on October 29th, 2014.
The team from Puerto Rico consists of the head of the State Department of Puerto Rico Javier Inclan, Miguel Rios, and the director of the Puerto Rico Search and Rescue Nino Correa. Correa said some more divers are expected to arrive on the island at a later date.
Halley told reporters at a press conference on Sunday that the Civil Aviation of St. Maarten established a team that consist Richard van Pinter heading team on behalf of St. Maarten, two senior persons from the UK, members from the FDA and the NSTB. Halley said that the team is responsible for investigating the cause of the accident, the report he said is not yet compiled when it is finished it will be sent to St. Maarten who will then distribute it to the other parties involved. Miguel de Weever Secretary General of Civil Aviation confirmed when asked if the investigation will include the incident that occurred on the runway of PJAIE the Monday before the tragedy that the investigation will go into the maintenance of the aircraft and its log book. While Halley said that the investigation will focus on the accident because the incident on the Monday prior to the crash was a hydraulic failure which was identified and fixed before the aircraft left St. Maarten that same day.
Halley said that St. Maarten had to request assistance from neighboring Puerto Rico because St. Maarten does not have the resources and equipment necessary to conduct a full scale search. He said that they managed to obtain a location through a GPS that was found and sent to the NSTP for analysis. Due to that analysis the search and rescue were able to narrow down where the aircraft went down. Halley further explained that on Sunday some wreckage was recovered but up to the time of the press briefing the body of the missing co-pilot Rigberto Lopez was not spotted.The team from Puerto Rico also told reporters that while they have an idea as to where the aircraft went down they will also expand the search outside of the space, this he said will be done in order to find every part of the aircraft and the possibly the body of Lopez who is a son of Puerto Rico soil.
Head of the Coast Guard Glen Werleman put to rest the speculations by Puerto Rico media outlets that reported the search began some three hours after the crash. Werleman said the coast guard received a call at 6:45pm and immediately after that call the coast guard sent out its patrol, while the Dutch Caribbean Sea Rescue and the marines joined the search. He said the body of the pilot was found and brought into to the Coast Guard office in Simpson Bay by 11pm that night. Asked about the weather conditions on the night of the fatal crash that left two dead, Halley said that on the evening of the crash the weather conditions on St. Maarten was bad as it was raining and the wind speed was up to 10 to 20 knots, besides that the wind was changing direction constantly and that is why the body of the pilot was found in the Maho-Cupe Coy area.The search and rescue team resumed searching for the aircraft and body as of 4pm on Sunday.
Asked by SMN News if what was found on Sunday gave the search team any indication that the missing co-pilot could be found trapped in the aircraft. Halley said he could not say that because he is not sure if the shell of the aircraft was found but one thing for sure the wreckage that was recovered on Sunday was found 75 feet under water.