A helicopter of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) of Venezuela fell to the ground this Tuesday in an uninhabited sector of the city of Barquisimeto, in the central state of Lara, in which Two soldiers were reported dead and two others wounded.President Nicolás Maduro reported this Tuesday.
Initially, the accident was confirmed by the mayor of Barquisimeto, Luis Jonás Reyes, through his Twitter account, where he did not refer to the dead. “At this time we confirm the fall of a helicopter belonging to our glorious Bolivarian Armed Forces in Pavia, Barquisimeto. Two of its crew members were rescued and I await confirmation of another 2 members who were allegedly in the aircraft,” said the Mayor.
Hours later, Maduro confirmed the death of two soldiers who were traveling in the helicopter and two other wounded who are in the hospital, “fighting for their lives.” “Today we have had a sad and unfortunate accident in the state of Lara, involving an M17 helicopter with two deaths and two pilots who are fighting for their lives,” said the president in an act broadcast by the state channel Venezolana de Televisión (VTV). Likewise, he explained that the aircraft had left the state of Yaracuy for the state of Zulia to fulfill a “mission” and that it had previously been in the border state of Apure, without offering details about these “missions.”
Maduro also thanked the peasants in the area where the helicopter fell for helping to transport the officials to the health center, with what “they were able to save two lives“. Twitter users shared images and videos of the moment the aircraft fell, as well as the help provided by inhabitants of the area, along with officials from the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB, militarized Police) and the Bolivarian National Police ( PNB), transferring two soldiers to the nearest hospital
On January 4, the NGO Control Ciudadano reported that between 2001 and 2021 there have been 83 accidents with military aircraft of the Armed Forces of the Caribbean country, which left a total of 169 dead and 55 injured between civilians and soldiers. “The period covered by the report shows an average of four annual accidents that have been occurring with aircraft of the Armed Forces (…) Data that represents a high incidence of air accidents with victims, which should be crossed with the information on flight hours to determine the scope and seriousness of the situation,” the NGO explained in a report published on its website. Likewise, he explained that of the total number of accidents reported, there were 30 helicopter accidents with 98 deaths, 25 in military transport aircraft with 57 deaths, 16 with combat planes with 8 deaths and 12 in training planes with 6 deaths.
Control Ciudadano maintained that the opacity in the handling of this information by the Venezuelan military forces has been “constant.” “There is no accountability, auditability and transparency in the planning, execution and evaluation of the State’s policy on national security and defense and accidents with military aircraft do not escape this pattern,” he added. The NGO said that as of 2013 there was a decrease in this type of accident, which “coincides with the beginning of the economic crisis in Venezuela, which could mean a decrease in the operability of the National Armed Forces and its impact on accidents. of military aircraft. He added that during 2021, 3 incidents with military aircraft were reported without fatalities.