Search efforts for the SVG Air aircraft which went missing on Thursday, August 5, have been temporarily suspended.{{more}}

Commander Brenton Cain, head of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Coast Guard, told SEARCHLIGHT on Tuesday that a request has been made to the Ministry of National Security for external assistance to be sought.

“We haven’t given up on it (the search efforts),” Cain said, adding that the local Coast Guard was still optimistic that they will be able to salvage the wreckage.

“We are hopeful that an agency from outside will come in,” he said.

Commander Cain said the British and Venezuelan authorities have responded to their call with a request for preliminary information.

“That was since last week. We haven’t heard anything from them (since),” Cain told SEARCHLIGHT.

Meanwhile, he indicated that they had since received the report from the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard, and, according to Cain, this information has been sent on to the various entities which have expressed an interest in joining the search and recovery effort.

Thus far, some 10 nautical miles have been searched above the surface, and divers have covered an area of 4 nautical miles, Cain confirmed. (DD)