Student pilot Merelesita Lutu (left) and flight school instructor Iliesa Tawalo.
The colleagues of the missing Pacific Flying School (PFS) student Merelesita Lutu and Instructor Iliesa Tawalo have pleaded to the nation for its prayers for the missing duo.
They and Advance Aviation students, friends and families were at a prayer vigil at Votualevu in Nadi last night.
The plea came as Acting Prime Minister, Attorney-General and Minister for Civil Aviation Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum ordered an investigation into the circumstances that led to the disappearance of the Cessna 172M aircraft.
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The missing student and instructor were on a routine training flight on board a Cessna 172M aircraft when it disappeared in the mountainous interior of Macuata in Vanua Levu around mid-day on Monday.
Second year student Seveci Naivalu Naikoro, 20, said: “We have just gathered here to pray for our colleague and not forgetting our instructor and their families.”
“We will continue to meet and pray together because at this stage we are not in a position to study. We are all disturbed and not in the right mind.
“This incident has unified students, instructors and engineers present tonight to pray for our colleagues.”
Mr Naikoro said that Ms Lutu was his class mate.
“The female pilot was in my class and a close colleague. The bond we had was more than friendship. When one falls down we all fall and when one stands up we all stand together. That was the kind of attitude we had,” he said.
“Mr Tawalo was a humble person.
“We don’t know what state they are in, but we all can just pray for them at this moment. We are all in the state of shock.”
Call for probe
An independent investigator will be appointed by the Department of Civil Aviation to carry out investigations into the missing Cessna 172 aircraft, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.
In a press conference yesterday Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said search and rescue operations were continuing to locate the Pacific Flying School (PFS) aircraft with registration DQFTR.
The Labasa flight service declared a standby emergency at 12:20pm on Monday before the Nadi Air Traffic management declared a search and rescue uncertainty phase at 12:40pm.
The operation was taken over by the Fiji Rescue Co-ordination Centre at 2:30pm which was made up of Airports Fiji Limited, Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji, Fiji Police Force, Republic of Fiji Military Forces, and the Fiji Navy.
Air Traffic Control recorded the last location of the aircraft at six nautical miles south-south west of Labasa and approximately one nautical mile west of Navakuru Village.
“In the meantime of course, we are still hopeful that we will find the crash site and the search will continue until we have done so,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.
The area is said to be so foggy that the nearest person cannot be seen and rescue operatives have to hold hands while combing through the forest area.
The heavy rain has made it near-impossible for personnel to manoeuvre the area as the soil has become loose and slippery. This is tough, unforgiving terrain.
Search plans
Police Chief Operations Officer, Acting ACP Maretino Qiolevu said the search was called off yesterday because of heavy rain and poor visibility.
However, he said it would resume today at 6am.
The joint search which was conducted on the ground and on air from Doguru Village up to the Delaikoro region and the surrounding areas saw no recovery made as the search enters day three today.
The helicopter ready to continue their search at Waiqele Airport, Labasa on February 27, 2018. Photo: WATI TALEBULA
She described him as, “patient, kind and understanding” and said he lived every day trying to do things according to the word of God.
“If we ever had a problem we would fast about it and pray and he never compromised the standard of the word of God,” she said.
“He would put others’ interest before his own and he was always willing to help anyone.”
She mentioned how he told her a story of how he decided to go and get a haircut with only $10 in his pocket which he gave it without hesitation to an elderly man who was selling roti parcels at Namaka.
“He then told me that God sent him there at that very moment to help someone. So you see that basically sums up what kind of person he is. He puts others before himself.”
The woman claimed that they had been friends for nearly five years and only professed their love for each other about a year ago.
She was working in Papua New Guinea and had moved back to Fiji three months ago so they could work on their relationship.
Friends of the missing two were seen sharing unfeigned messages of comfort and sympathy online.
Edited by Jonathan Bryce and Percy Kean
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