A5

Adam Huras
Telegraph-Journal

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

Speak Up

MONCTON - The mother of a young Bathurst man is hoping that her 20-year-old son will be found alive more than two weeks after the plane he was aboard went missing over the jungles of Guyana.

Patrick Murphy was one of three men on board a U.S. chartered aircraft that disappeared over dense Amazonian forest on Nov. 2.

Murphy, an employee of Ontario-based Terraquest Ltd., was conducting geophysical surveys for Prometheus Resources Guyana Inc. when the twin-engine Beechcraft King Air plane was last heard from.

"We just want to remain positive; we want people to continue their prayers because we truly believe that through God all things are possible," said Wendy Murphy, Patrick's mother. "We are waiting for them all to come home."

"What we are going through is very private, but it is very, very, very much appreciated - all the prayers that are being given for the retrieval of all three boys."

Also on board were Americans James Wesley Barker, 28, and Chris Paris, 23, the captain and first officers of the plane.

Hope of their rescue appeared to dim earlier this week when Guyana Civil Aviation suspended its search for the aircraft. Some 200 hours and 45,000 kilometres of aerial searching with no sighting of the plane prompted the government to end efforts.

Guyana's Transportation Minister Robeson Benn said government teams had unsuccessfully scoured mountainous forests near the Venezuelan border.

But Dynamic Aviation, owners of the lost aircraft, and Terraquest Ltd. have now vowed to continue searching. Steve Barrie, general manager of Terraquest, said the search is continuing on the ground and in the air exploring "areas of interest," but did not elaborate.

Murphy said knowledge that the search continues and other details not released publicly, amounts to the possibility of her son's safe return.

"There are a lot of details that you guys (the media) may not be privy to," Murphy said. "The Guyanese government has stopped their search, that's public knowledge, but the search continues regardless of the Guyanese government's involvement."

The Kaieteur News, a daily newspaper published in Guyana, reported Wednesday that uranium company Prometheus Resources Guyana Inc. is conducting ground searches in a section of Kurupung where a Brazilian miner had heard an explosion after seeing a plane flying in the area.

Patrick Murphy was a recent electrical engineering technology graduate of New Brunswick Community College Moncton.

Errol Persaud, department head at NBCC Moncton, said Murphy's alma mater remains positive of his safe return home. Born in Guyana himself, Persaud said the Amazonian forest presents the capabilities for survival.

"The way the canopy is built down there, basically what happens is you have these tall trees and when an aircraft drops in, trees sort of open up and then closes up," Persaud said. "It's difficult to locate anything, but you know if they survived the crash, there are plenty of things to eat, plenty of vegetation and it doesn't freeze at night like here."

Wendy Murphy continues to pray for her son's safe return.

"The people that know who he is as a person, know who he is," Murphy said. "And every person, including him, is valuable in this world."