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A training helicopter of the Bolivarian Military Aviation crashed this Friday in the Aragua state, in northern Venezuela, resulting in the death of two officers from the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB), as confirmed by military authorities.
The accident occurred at 08:35 local time (12:35 GMT) in the San Vicente area of the Girardot municipality, in Maracay, when the aircraft Enstrom 480 with registration YV3549 crashed to the ground without issuing an emergency communication.
On board were Chief Noglys Carolina García, flight instructor, and Lieutenant Carlos Alfonzo Castillo, student pilot, both of whom died in the impact.
The Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino López, reported that President Nicolás Maduro, as Commander-in-Chief of the FANB, ordered the establishment of an Aerial Accidents Investigation Board to clarify the causes of the incident.
“Relevant inquiries have been initiated to determine the possible causes,” it stated in an official announcement.
This accident occurs just nine days after another air disaster in Venezuela, when a Learjet 55 with a Venezuelan registration crashed shortly after takeoff from Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía, leaving at least two people injured.
Aviation accidents in the Bolivarian Military Aviation have been recurrent in recent years. Last July, seven people, including a co-pilot, died in a plane crash in the state of Amazonas while transporting members of the Yanomami indigenous community and equipment from the National Electoral Council (CNE) during an electoral operation.
Venezuelan authorities have not yet provided a preliminary report on the possible causes of this latest accident in Maracay, but they assure that investigations are still ongoing.
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