Two SA pilots die in DRC crash
2006-04-28 10:46
Pretoria - Two South African pilots were killed when their plane crashed on approach to the town of Lubutu in the northern regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Captains André Nel and Charles Greyvenstein died on Thursday when the South African-registered Convair 580 aircraft they were piloting fell from the sky. Three Congolese crew also died in the crash.
Captain Johan Olivier for the owners of the plane said: "We do not exactly what happened yet, there is no telephone reception in the area and we got the news via United Nations peacekeepers."
He was trying to get to the crash site on Friday.
The pilots were flying cargo under contract for a Congolese airline from Goma to Lubutu when the plane crashed.
Olivier said Nel's two sons and Greyvenstein's wife and three children had been notified about the crash. On arrival in Lubutu he would make arrangements to bring their bodies to South Africa.
The South African Civil Aviation Authority was already in contact with their Congolese counterparts about investigating the accident
- SAPA