Guyana Defence Force Bell 412 crashed

On 6 December 2023, around 11:20 hrs LT, a Bell 412EPi of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) – Air Corps went missing in Western Essequibo, Cuyuni-Mazaruni region, about 30km east of Arau. It had left Base Camp Ayanganna in Georgetown earlier that morning with seven persons on board.

About 24 hours later, the wreckage of the helicopter was found by a Search and Rescue-team that had been searching the area for the missing helicopter. The search and extraction operation has been hampered by adverse weather conditions in the area where the Bell 412 came down.

Unfortunately, the extraction team has reported that five out of seven persons on board have not survived the accident. Five servicemen on board of the helicopter, mostly senior and experienced officers, did not survive the accident, which can be considered a severe blow to the GDF and the Air Corps in particular. It was one of these officers who helped Scramble Magazine to publish its first online Order of Battle of the GDF Air Corps and kindly provided pictures of rarely seen GDF-aircraft and helicopters for our first website in the early 2000s. RIP Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Charles.

The helicopter involved is 8R-AYA, a fairly new Bell 412EPi (c/n 37002) which was delivered to the Air Corps on 8 July 2023. The Essequibo area where the helicopter was lost, is subject to territorial claims by neighbouring Venezuela, underlined by the outcome of a national referendum held in Venezuela last Sunday.

Credit photo: Guyana Defence Force