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PILOTS WEREN’T RATED TO FLY DOOMED PLANE
‘PERSONAL MATTERS’ SEE DNA’S NO.2 RESIGN
Questions mount over fatal crash as police confirm jet had been reported stolen By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net TWO Bahamian pilots who died in a fiery plane crash in Abaco on Monday were not qualified to fly the jet, perplexing investigators who have since opened a stolen aircraft inquiry into the matter. Investigators are trying to piece together the suspicious circumstances that prompted the former Royal Bahamas Defence Force marines to fly the plane. Captain Delvin Major, chief investigator of the Air Accident Investigation
Authority, said yesterday that Jason Allen was a student pilot and that while Lavan Paul had an airline transport licence, he did not have a type rating to fly the aircraft. Pilots of such planes require a type rating certification, which involves additional training beyond their initial instruction. In a statement yesterday, police also said officers of the Marsh Harbour Police Station on Tuesday received a report that the plane was stolen from the Treasure Cay Airport.
By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
THE Democratic National Alliance has announced that the party’s Deputy Leader Buscheme Armbrister stepped down effective June 30 in order to attend to “personal matters”. “After much thought and prayers, I have made a decision to leave frontline politics and step down as Deputy Leader effective June 30, 2021 in order to attend to personal matters,” Mr Armbrister said at a press conference yesterday. SEE PAGE TWO
SEE PAGE THREE
DIONISIO TARGETS 1M STOPOVER VISITORS By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
TOURISM Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar yesterday said he is targeting one million stopover tourist arrivals for 2021 but acknowledged COVID19 vaccination hesitancy remains “the elephant in the room” for this ambition. Mr D’Aguilar said the Government will have to be more aggressive in
‘MOTHER’ PRATT ‘IS GETTING BETTER’
persuading Bahamians to become inoculated so this nation can avoid infection “spikes” such as the one that dampened Bimini’s US Independence holiday business. Suggesting the Government will “have to take the vaccine to the people, if the people do not come to the vaccine”, he argued The Bahamas “doesn’t have that much time” to improve inoculation rates. FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis pictured previously with Haiti President Jovenel Moise, who has been assassinated at his home. The Bahamas embassy in Haiti has been ordered closed in the wake of the killing.
BORDER ALERT AFTER HAITI PRESIDENT KILLED By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net
THE Bahamas has closed its embassy in Haiti and will beef up border security at
home as precautionary measures after Haitian President Jovenel Moise was assassinated at his home yesterday. Foreign Affairs Minister Darren Henfield said the embassy will remain
shut until a way forward is determined. “In any event, we were operating sparsely because of the pandemic,” he said.
Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper
SEE PAGE TEN
By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net CYNTHIA “Mother” Pratt, former Deputy Prime Minister, is said to be responding well to treatment for COVID-19 in hospital, Dr Lynwood Brown said yesterday. “We’ll keep her in for observation to get her where we need to get her,” Dr Brown said of the former St Cecelia MP. “Surprisingly, she is getting better sooner than we anticipated. So yeah, she is doing well. Steady as she goes and solid as a rock.” Mrs Pratt was taken to hospital in an ambulance on Tuesday after being diagnosed with COVID-19 more than a week ago. SEE PAGE FOUR