Gyrocopter kills man

A man was killed when he was hit by a gyrocopter making an emergency landing at the Vaal Marina in Vereeniging yesterday, paramedics said.

Netcare 911 paramedics responded just after noon to reports of an aircraft crash on the shore of the Vaal Marina next to the R54 in Gauteng, Netcare 911 spokesperson Shawn Herbst said.

“Reports from the scene indicate that a gyrocopter collided with an elderly male believed to be in his 70s while trying to perform an emergency landing. The patient was assessed at the scene by a Netcare 911 emergency care practitioner and found to have no signs of life and declared deceased at the scene.”

The circumstances leading up to the incident are still unknown, but police were at the scene and had secured the area for South African Civil Aviation Authority investigators, Herbst said.

In another statement, ER24 spokesperson Werner Vermaak said bystanders said members of a family scattered the ashes of a loved one from the gyrocopter when it allegedly made an emergency landing – ANA