2 die in 3rd KZN plane crash in a week
2012-05-05 09:20
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Lunga Biyela, The Witness
Pietermaritzburg - Two people were confirmed dead in a light plane crash near Greytown on Friday night.
In the third air crash in KwaZulu-Natal in a week, a man and a woman reportedly en route from Piet Retief in Mpumalanga to Cape Town, were killed when their Cessna 206 came down in a plantation.
The crash site was about 3km from Greytown, in the direction of kwaDukuza (Stanger).
Trees in the plantation still smouldered late on Friday night, while some had been felled by the force of the crash. Pieces of the aircraft and its engine were scattered over a wide area.
Police, including the search and rescue unit’s Lieutenant Jack Haskins, found the bodies of two people, a man and a woman, near the wreckage.
Parts of wreckage stuck in trees
Phindiwe Gwebu of the Civil Aviation Authority said there were only two people on board. No further information was available.
Gwebu said a CAA investigator from Gauteng and would fly in on Saturday, having been unable to get a flight on Friday night.
Police on the scene said the first call about the crash was received at around 18:00, but it took some hours before the wreckage was located in the dense trees.
Haskins said he reached the scene at about 21:00.
The plane’s occupants were found some distance from one of the larger pieces of wreckage. One of the man’s legs had been severed.
Two shoes were seen among the scattered parts of the aircraft.
Haskins said the damage to the trees indicated that the plane must have come down fast. He said that parts of the plane’s wreckage were still stuck in the trees.
Friday night's crash followed a belly landing on the beach near Virginia Airport in Durban during the afternoon. The pilot and his passenger were unhurt.
Last Sunday, an experimental aircraft crashed and burnt at Margate Airport following a fly-in meeting of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA).
Passenger Hazel Nash was killed outright and pilot Rob Mirtle on Friday,. having suffered extensive burns.
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