Medevac crash riddle
Five people killed after waiting to land in Cape Town
We lost contact with the aircraft about seven miles outside the airport
THE NAMIBIAN medical emergency plane that crashed in Durbanville in the Western Cape was instructed to remain in the air, because there was a technical glitch affecting the radars at Cape Town International Airport.
No one could confirm how long the E-Med Rescue 24 plane had waited before it crashed on the Maastricht wine farm yesterday morning.
A Namibian emergency services company said radar failure at the airport preceded a plane crash in which all five occupants were killed.
Investigators are piecing together clues and evidence collected at the scene to figure out what led to the crash of the light aircraft.
But the Air Traffic Navigation Services (ATNS) has said allegations of a nationwide radar failure “cannot be entertained”.
The plane left Oranjemund Airport in Namibia at 4am and was scheduled to land three hours later in Cape Town.
Metro Emergency Services received reports of the crash at 7.15am. There were major aircraft delays between Joburg and Cape Town afterwards.
SAA and Mango apologised to their passengers for the hold up which continued until about lunchtime, according to flight schedules.
Patient Gabriel le Roux, 80, his daughter Charmaine Koortzen, 49, Namibian pilots Steven Naudé, 53, Amore Espag, 23, and paramedic Alfred Ward, 24, died on impact.
They were flying from Namibia to Cape Town to get treatment at Panorama Hospital for Le Roux, who had fallen and injured his head on Saturday night.
ER24 spokesman Werner Vermaak said the plane was in a holding pattern. Planes go into holding patterns when they can’t land at their scheduled times for whatever reason. They then have to keep circling until air traffic control gives them permission to land.
ATNS reported a “minor technical glitch”, which had affected the sequence of departures and arrivals at the airport.
Spokesman Percy Morokane said once flight sequencing was affected, flight departures and arrivals were bound to be delayed.
Vermaak said the ER24 flight desk was alerted that the plane was affected due to the glitch.
“It is understood from the Airports Company South Africa that all aircraft approaching Cape Town International Airport at the time were placed in a holding pattern due to a technical fault with their radar,” Vermaak explained.
“The E-med Rescue 24 aircraft was also in the holding pattern at the time. We lost contact with the aircraft approximately seven miles (11.2km) outside the airport.”
Morokane denied that the crash was connected to the sequence of departures and arrivals.
“As ATNS, we are required to provide a report of what transpired, and that includes communication between the pilot and our (air traffic controller) on duty and any other related information to such an authority,” Morokane said.
Le Roux was visiting Koortzen in Oranjemund in Namibia when he fell and hurt his head.
Vermaak said Le Roux was a member of the De Beers Benefit Society and was stable enough to be flown to Cape Town to be treated.
The plane went off the radar at 6.50am. At 7.15am, a crash on the hill was reported to the emergency services, he said.
At 8.03am, it was confirmed there were no survivors.
The son of the owner of Maastricht wine farm, Thys Louw, said he and his family were alerted to the crash when the authorities knocked on their door at about 9am. Their house, the closest to the scene of the crash, is about 1km away, he pointed out.
“It was extremely misty and windy outside. We heard or saw nothing,” Louw said.
Cape Town City Fire and Rescue Services were the first to arrive at the scene.
Spokesman Theo Layne said that once firefighters had extinguished the small fire caused by the impact of the crash, they handed the scene over to the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) and the police.
SACAA spokeswoman Phindiwe Gwebu said the authorities were investigating the accident.
A friend of Espag, Alice Huang, yesterday said on Facebook that Espag was to get married next month and added: “May you rest in peace, Amore Espag, You’ll always be in our hearts – remembered for the lovely, enthusiastic person you are.” –