'The last time I saw my dad'
2007-05-07 22:11
London - "Please look after yourself, you are very special, enjoy your flight back home - love you tons. Giant hugs and kisses Dad."
This was the last SMS message Nicole van der Westhuizen, 25, got from her father, Conrad van der Westhuizen, 49, before she flew back to London from South Africa last month.
Her father was on board the Kenyan Airways flight that crashed at the weekend, killing all on board.
In an exclusive interview with News24, Nicole recounted the gamut of emotions she had experienced in the past few days, hearing conflicting reports about the plane and desperately hoping her father still was alive.
Nicole's stepmother, Angelique, called her about midday on Saturday as she was worried after not hearing from Conrad, who was due to land early in the morning.
Felt helpless
He was returning from a business meeting in Cameroon.
Angelique called the airline and found out about the accident.
Nicole's first reaction was one of shock. "I felt absolutely helpless," she told News24.
"I thought: that's impossible - that only happens in the movies or on the TV."
"It took me at least 24 hours to truly understand the severity of the situation."
The only thing Nicole could think of was the last time she had seen her father, back in April when she was visiting SA.
"The night before I flew back to London we enjoyed a good traditional braai next to the pool.
"I left the following day and just before take off received an SMS from my dad.
It read: "Please look after yourself, you are very special, enjoy your flight back home - love you tons. Giant hugs and kisses Dad."
Not knowing has been worst
A clearly devastated Nicole spoke to news24 by phone from London, where she has lived for the past seven years.
Her voice trembled as she described the responses she had had from Kenyan Airways.
"The most frustrating thing has been the unknown," she said.
"It took ages to find the plane. It was only yesterday (Sunday) at 16:00 that the officials confirmed they had found the wreckage - but four hours later they had to stop due to light and weather.
On Monday, family members were asked to a meeting at the airport - but again, there was no news, apart from having found the wreckage.
Nicole has had to contend with various conflicting reports about the crash and has received no information about the passengers, to date.
Hoping against hope
News reports indicated however that there had been no survivors.
But, Nicole is desperately hopeful, as is her 19-year-old brother, Shane, who lives with her in London and her sister, Lee-Ann, in South Africa.
"I am hoping that due to low altitude, a soft swampy landing and an apparent "intact" fuselage that my father is in his seat deciding on what meat to do on the braai this weekend!" she said.
"I am hoping and praying that there are survivors. No one deserves to go through this."
Beeld reported that the South African death toll rose to at least nine people.
The newspaper added that the SA death toll could be as high as 19 if one allowed for foreigners who had residential rights in the country as well as SA citizens who were travelling with passports of other countries.