Guyana exempt from releasing GDF helicopter crash report – Indar

Minister of Public Utilities and Aviation Deodat Indar said Guyana is exempt from releasing the report into the fatal GDF helicopter crash on the grounds of confidentiality for national security matters.

“It was a military operation, it was not a civilian flight,” Indar said during his contribution to the 2026 Budget Debate on Thursday night. “Because it is a national security issue, it is exempted.”

The crash in December 2023 claimed the lives of five servicemen. They are: Lieutenant Colonel Michael Charles, Colonel Michael Shahoud, Retired Brigadier Gary Beaton, Lieutenant Colonel Sean Welcome, and Warrant Officer Class 2, Jason Khan. They were part of a seven-member crew on board the army’s Bell 412 helicopter.

A day earlier in the debate, Opposition Parliamentarian Amanza Walton-Desir opined that Guyana may be breaching the Convention on International Civil Aviation (ICAO) by failing to publish the report on the crash. She conceded that there may be some national security implications that must be kept confidential, but affirmed that a report should be publicised.

However, Indar disagreed.

He pointed out that the ICAO does require the publication of reports about investigations into incidents, but noted that the Chicago Convention does cater for confidentiality needs owing to national security implications. What Indar referenced is included in Annex 13 of the ICAO Convention, which includes non-disclosure provisions.

So Indar argued that local authorities are exempt from releasing that report.

After Indar spoke, APNU’s Terrence Campbell pointed out that government officials had promised to publicise the report about the crash. So he questioned why the government was now reluctant to share that document.

Outside of this report, which was expected to help bring further closure to the matter, Chief of Defence Staff, Brigadier Omar Khan, said last year that findings of the internal investigation into the crash of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Bell 412 helicopter were all acted upon.

“All the recommendations, all the findings of our internal investigation have been acted upon,” Brigadier Khan told reporters at a press conference in May 2025.