SA families wait to fly to Tripoli
2010-05-13 12:50
Johannesburg - Families of the South Africans who died in Wednesday's plane crash in Tripoli were waiting for word on when they could fly to Libya for the sad task of finalising the repatriation of remains.
"We are obviously waiting for the local authorities and airline to tell us that they want the families to come up and then we will arrange that," said Johan Kuit, CEO for Global Aviation, on Thursday.
Global Aviation lost cabin crew trainer Cathy Tillett, as well as retired manager Norbert Taferner and his wife Paula.
"They have a support network here. To send them up there all by themselves, and for them to wait in a hotel alone would not be right," said Kuit.
Staffers were bearing up under the strain of losing Tillett, Taferner and his wife.
"It is still a massive loss," said Kuit.
Emergency reception centre
Only a Dutch boy survived the crash out of the 104 people on board the Afriqiyah Airways flight which was coming in to land from Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport.
DA MP Anchen Dreyer's brother Frans also died.
The Star reported that Bree O'Mara, who won the Citizen Book Prize for her novel "Home Affairs", died in the crash.
The newspaper also named Nigel Peter, who ran the maintenance division of AirQuarius Aviation, Hans Wolfaardt, who did occasional aircraft painting for AirQuarius, Anton Matthee from Stellenbosch and Robert Webber, who was on his way to join the British army.
South Africa's ambassador in Tripoli had opened an emergency reception centre for when the families arrived.
The Department of International Relations was working on the final verification of the names of those believed to have been on board.
Earlier, British foreign secretary William Hague extended condolences to the families and friends of those who died.
"Our deepest sympathies are with the families and friends of all those who lost their lives," he said in a statement.
- SAPA
