Pilot made fatal choice

2008-09-22 23:01

Gloria Edwards

Johannesburg - The pilot that died along with his wife and four other people in a plane crash in Mozambique on Saturday chose a different plane because the first one was faulty.

Johan Wessels, 42, and his wife Louise, 39, from Kempton Park, would have returned on Friday, but there was something wrong with the first aircraft's engine, his father, Adriaan Wessels, 74, said.

"They took a different plane on Saturday."

The couple were inseparable until the end, her parents, Attie and Marie Neale, both 64, said.

They had been married for 19 years and "always did everything together".

Attie saw the couple on Saturday morning for the last time when he took them to Rand Airport, from where they flew to Mozambique via Durban.

"Louise called me at about 08:30 when they were leaving Durban airport. We are a very close-knit family and they always let us know where they were.

"On Saturday afternoon the police called us with the shocking news."

Louise's brother, Arthur, 36, said Louise, her husband and four businessmen had been on their way to a tea and a blue-gum plantation in Beira where they had some work to do.

"They were expected to return to South Africa on Wednesday."

At this stage little is known about the accident and the family is trying to make sense of events.

"Everybody has a different story. We haven't heard anything from the investigation. We hope to get some answers soon," Marie said.

The Neales said Johan, a building contractor, regularly flew to Mozambique, always taking the same route.

"He got his pilot's licence in 2002 and has completed 480 flight hours. We don't know what went wrong."

The couple had no children. "Only their six dogs that are now pining and don't want to eat. Louise and Johan were two jewels who lived life to the full.

"They were always together, right to the end," Marie said.

- Beeld