Trans Guyana plane badly damaged after hitting ‘watrash’ rodent at Ogle

Last Updated on Tuesday, 14 April 2026, 20:10 by Writer

A Trans Guyana Airways (TGA) plane was Tuesday evening badly damaged when it struck a herd of capybaras on landing at the Eugene F. Correia ‘Ogle’ International Airport, but no one was injured, an airline spokesman said.

TGA spokesman, Christopher ‘Kit’ Nascimento confirmed that none of the 12 passengers and two crew members was injured when the plane, bearing registration marking 8R-GAQ, landed at about 6 p.m. on arrival from Suriname.

“It immediately came into collision on the runway with a herd of capybaras that ran into the aircraft. The aircraft shut down its engines and was forced off the runway,” he said.

He said the Beechcraft aircraft’s propeller hit a capybara, a large South American rodent known locally as ‘watrash’.

He could not say whether the propeller disintegrated but noted that the undercarriage was badly damaged.

He said the plane has since been removed from the runway.

Another source told Demerara Waves Online News that the pilot reportedly took evasive action avoiding what could have been a major incident.

Mr Nascimento said since major road construction around the airport, wild animals such as capybaras and caimans “have become a bit of a plague crossing the runway.”

“We have to ensure that they are not on the runway when a plane has been given authority to land but, as I pointed out, this plane had already landed when the capybaras crashed into the undercarriage,” he said.