The Tribune

By PACO NUNEZ

Tribune News Editor

EMERGENCY runway lights will be installed in Mayaguana immediately, Transport and Aviation Minister Glenys Hanna-Martin announced yesterday.

During her first tenure, between 2002 and 2007, solar powered lights were installed at 17 Family Island airports, including Mayaguana, Mrs Hanna-Martin noted.

This effectively eliminated the need for car headlights to be relied on in emergency situations – but since then, things have changed, she said.

“The Mayaguana Airport is the subject of a Heads of Agreement with the I Group, a foreign development group which under that agreement were obliged to rehabilitate the airport inclusive of lights and runway resurfacing,” Mrs Hanna-Martin said.

“That agreement was reviewed by the previous administration for several years and it was only until February 2012 that a revised agreement was finalised between the former government and the I Group.

“As a result of this terrible turn of events, the Ministry of Transport is now intervening to procure the immediate installation of emergency lights in Mayaguana and will thereafter install lights in Fresh Creek Andros and Stella Maris, Long Island.”

Mrs Hanna-Martin said an investigative team that includes officers from the Royal Bahamas Police Force and the Air Accident Investigation and Prevention Unit flew to the island yesterday morning.

“I wish to assure that a full investigation will be carried out by the Department of Civil Aviation into the causes and circumstances surrounding this terrible event,” she said.

The minister said witnesses are being interviewed and photographs and other forms of evidence are being collected.

She added: “I extend my heartfelt condolences to the families of these beloved persons and to the wider community of Mayaguana who share in this loss.”