A military plane has crashed in South Africa’s mountainous
east, killing 11 people, local media reported Thursday.
The Dakota air force plane, which crashed late Wednesday,
was not carrying members of Nelson Mandela’s medical team, as earlier
unconfirmed reports suggested.
“On board the aircraft was a crew of six and five
passengers, and it was confirmed that there are no survivors,” defence
department spokesman Siphiwe Dlamini told local news agency SAPA.
“The SANDF (South African National Defence Force) has
commenced with the process of informing the next-of-kin of the deceased
members. The names of the deceased will be released when all the next-of-kin
have been informed.”
The plane left Pretoria’s Waterkloof Air Force Base and was
scheduled to land at 10:00 am (0800 GMT) in Mthatha, a small airport in the
Eastern Cape that is the closest to Mandela’s rural homestead of Qunu, where he
has lived since retiring from public life.
Rescue helicopters were dispatched to the mountainous region
after the plane was reported missing, but had to be called back because of bad
weather.
- Vanguard
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