Crash site of missing ASL plane found, lone pilot yet to be located

The crash site of the missing Air Services Limited (ASL) aircraft has been discovered deep within Guyana’s interior in a heavily forested area in Region Eight, authorities confirmed.

Search and rescue teams are now focusing their efforts at the location as they continue to look for the pilot, who was the only person on board at the time of the incident, according to Head of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), Captain Egbert Field.

The pilot has been identified as Captain Ryder Castello, a Nicaraguan national with roughly two decades of flying experience, including about ten years with ASL.

The aircraft, a Cessna single-engine plane bearing registration 8R-YAC, had departed Mahdia and was en route to Imbaimadai when it went missing.

Contact was last made in the vicinity of Mahdia, prompting an emergency response.

Earlier, Field reported that communication with the aircraft had been lost mid-flight, triggering a multi-agency search operation involving the Guyana Defence Force and other teams.