Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Albatross plane crash: Bodies flown to Pretoria. Tzaneen in Limpopo.

Johannesburg - The bodies of 13 people who died in the twin plane accident north-east of Tzaneen in Limpopo will be flown to Pretoria on Wednesday for post mortems to be conducted, police said.

"The bodies also need to be identified," Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said.

"Some of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition. We are going to have to do DNA testing."

The search for the two missing planes ended on Tuesday when the bodies were found among the crash wreckage on Mamotswiri Peak.

Caught fire after crash

Those on board the aircraft with registration ZU MMI were pilot Brian Gruar and passengers Marrion Anderson, Maddison and Alexandra Doak, Tess Spence, Louise Warden and Kevin Woolacott.

On board the other plane, registration ZS NJX, were pilot Peter Gildenhuys, and passengers Stuart and Peter van Oldenburg, Frans Dely, Marietjie de Witt, and Linda Pierce. Dely was a well-known Johannesburg aviation photographer.

The Albatross aircraft took off from Tzaneen Airport on Sunday at 10:30. Both planes were bound for Rand Airport in Johannesburg, after participating in the Tzaneen air show.

They were reported missing  at 13:30 on the same day, authorities said.

Bad weather and low cloud conditions initially hampered the search on Monday, Search and Rescue SA spokesperson Johnny Smit said.

A search and rescue mission followed and the crash site was found at 08:15.

Indications were that the two aircraft, carrying six and seven passengers respectively, caught fire after crashing.

The Civil Aviation Authority said investigations into the crash had commenced.

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