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But, while there is such great loss, there are also a great many questions that need to be answered. We went looking for those this morning at the scene of the accident near western Lagoon. Jules Vasquez reports:

This is all that could be seen of the U1H1 helicopter - it's tail jutting out of the Western Lagoon. Just beneath the surface you can make out the blades of the chopper - and from this we can conclude that it was face down in the Lagoon.

We got to a clearing on the banks of the lagoon at the same time of two BDF deployments,

in the background - about a thousand feet away, the chopper lay submerged with the bodies of four of their fellow soldiers.

Those bodies, their souls were surely on the mind of the BDF commander, General Steven Ortega as sat at the front desk today, in a daze:

Reporter
"Are you able to speak to us, jus share a little about these gentlemen, perhaps a little about their career, how they serve this country? Just give us a little overview of some of their contributions to the force. I know Mr. Ramirez and Mr. Baizar are long time members of the force, are you able to speak to us about their character and the work that they've done?"

Brig. General Steven Ortega, Commander BDF
"Major Ramirez as you know is the commanding officer of the airwing. He just too over about a year now and he has been flying almost 15 years or their about. They all have families, wife, children. Major Baizar is our helicopter instructor pilot. He recently did an aircraft safety course, as in mid last year he came back. Corporal Mendez and Private Choco have been at the airwing one year after passing out. They have both done extensive engineering courses and they've both been trained as air crew to assist the pilots in their flying. So they are all very capable people, very experience and it's just hard to see them in this state right now."

Hon. Elodio Aragon, Min. Of State National Security
"And I think the Belizean people out there must understand that these people were out there risking their lives in this operation and as Belizeans, because I saw some post on facebook, I mean it is sad when you see certain things and people commenting all kind of stuff. We must understand that these people were out there serving their country."

"I remember when Kobe passed away when they crashed in the helicopter there, you had a lot of Belizeans mourning. We need to mourn for these people, because these people were out there serving their country."

The emotions were surely much the same at the scene for coast guard divers in the water doing recovery efforts, and the BDF soldiers in an Astrum Helicopter above doing reconnaissance.

But, we couldn't take it in. After just a minute there, the BDF told us we had to go, IMMEDIATELY.

And they made sure we did

We retreated about a thousand feet, where Inspector Victorin came to check us out on guns on the read

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"We're here in the area of western lagoon; the helicopter is near the western bank of the western lagoon which is about 2,000 feet from here. We've been chased here by the BDF. They are trying to secure the area in their search and rescue and that is understandable. They are also very emotional. When we went down to the area earlier, we encountered a high degree of tension as they removed us from the area. We were the first media to arrive on the bank of the western lagoon and a short while a go the media had to take cover. Shots were fired, not at anyone, but a warning shot I believe, because one of the media houses Channel 5 was flying a drone and so everyone jumped as low as they could. As I said the scene out here for the BDF is more than just a search and rescue operation, it's a very sad and emotional day, because 4 of their own are unaccounted for and feared dead in the waters of the western lagoon. As you can see they are coming up behind us now and I believe we have to move on."

And on the way out we got another chance to see the G2 Gulfstream - Parkes less than half a mile from where the chopper went down - a reminder of the reason why a BDF helicopter and four souls were at the bottom of a lagoon:

Hon, Michael Peyrefitte, Minster of National Securty
"When you're talking about a plane or some substance that people need to feel other than themselves, we in a way had almost forgotten about that. Our hearts and minds are with these 4 gentlemen who lost their lives in the service of their country. They died so all of us in the room and in this country could be safer and that's the only thing that's on the mind of the Ministry of National Security. We don't care about any plane and any drugs."