THE FERGUSON FAMILY IS STILL UPSET OVER FNM MISSTEPS ON MISSING PILOT
From the Nassau Guardian
There was a vigil held to pray for the return of Byron Ferguson at Nirvana Beach on Western New Providence on Friday 23 November 2018. The Nassau Guardian reported that the family is still upset with the authorities and the manner in which the matter of the loss of their family member pilot Byron Ferguson was handled. The report from the Nassau Guardian of 23rd November:
Anya Ferguson said she could not bring herself to visit the site of her husband’s plane crash the night his Piper Aztec aircraft went down in waters off western New Providence.
Ferguson’s husband, Byron, crashed in waters two nautical miles from Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) on November 8.
Anya Ferguson said she knew she couldn’t go.
“I just couldn’t do it,” she said.
“I knew when I married Byron who I was marrying. At the same time, just for my sanity and my peace, knowing that I had a nine-month-old child home with me, I couldn’t go.
“I just was at that point saying, ‘You know, he’s a great pilot. I know whatever happens he is going to walk away from this.’
“So, I was just waiting for them to call and say, ‘Anya just meet us at the hospital, we are on our way.’
“It didn’t happen.”
Ferguson, along with other relatives of Byron, appeared on the Our TV show “On the Record” with host Jerome Sawyer.
Byron Ferguson was flying a six-seater Piper Aztec aircraft from Palm Beach, Florida, to New Providence.
Officials said the plane disappeared from the radar near Nirvana Beach, after Byron Ferguson reported that the door had flown open.
In the hours after the crash, officials spotted debris suspected to be from the aircraft. However, when they returned to the site the next morning, they were unable to find the wreckage.
Ferguson’s mother, former ZNS News anchor Agnes Ferguson, said she was terribly hurt that the search was called off the night the plane crashed.
She also took issue with comments made by a senior police officer on November 9, regarding the search.
“To hear this man, say the search is called off, and particularly what struck my heart was the smirk on his face when he said it,” she said.
“You know? It’s like, not sensitized at all; don’t care about nobody. I was hurt, terribly hurt by it.
“I think things just have to change.
“That’s the only problem I still have. The position they took with just calling off the search. It shouldn’t happen.”
Anya Ferguson said her husband was a good man who loved The Bahamas.
“I know he was a great person,” she said.
“I shouldn’t say was. I know he is a great person. All the negative comments, I just feel as if, to me, it is so insensitive.
“Like what, you only dive for persons who have a flight plan?”
The Fergusons said they are looking for closure.
Asked if the recovery of Byron’s body would provide closure, Agnes Ferguson said, “Absolutely.”