Five officers of Venezuelan Air Force (also called Bolivarian Military Aviation) died in an accident with a Cessna C208B Grand Caravan on Sunday (06). The aircraft crashed 3 km from the Jose Antonio Paez Air Base, in the state of Amazonas, in the south of the country.
According to Ministry of Defense country, the accident occurred around 06:54 (local time) during a training flight. The C208B, registration number AMB 0956, fell into a wooded area and exploded, being completely destroyed. The Cessna was operated by Air Transport Group 9, whose primary mission was to provide to local indigenous communities.
Base Aérea "G/J José Antonio Paez". PUERTO AYACUCHO. VENEZUELA
06NOV22
C-208B Siglas AMB 0956.
The Aeronave C-208B siglas AMB 0956 realizando a entrenamiento local para la calificación de un Captain de nave en el sistema se precipitó a tierra. @JacdecNew pic.twitter.com/AicHbchazR
— Aviation Club (@mundoaeroclub) November 6, 2022
Captains José Enrique Castillo Tovar and Jefferson José Aular Soto and lieutenants Roberto José Aponte Acosta, Santiago D'Jesús Collado Grudas and José Leonardo Rivas Márquez died in the accident.
By the time of this publication, only four of the five soldiers had been found, all of them lifeless, with one body still missing.
The crew were identified as: captains José Castillo and Jeferson Aular; first lieutenant, Roberto Aponte; teniente, Santiago Collado and the teniente, Jesús Rivas.
Minutes after take off, the aircraft crashed to the ground. pic.twitter.com/YJWKGgJxW9— Jesus Armando (@JArmandoGruber) November 6, 2022
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In a note, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro “Ordered the start of corresponding investigations to determine the possible causes of the accident. He also instructed to provide all necessary to the relatives of the deceased.”
According to aerotime, Venezuela even operated four C208Bs. In 2004, another accident with an AMB Grand Caravan killed seven people. The aircraft crashed into a mountain due to bad weather conditions.
