Man killed by gyrocopter

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, 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 on the scene by a Netcare 911 emergency care practitioner and found to have no signs of life. He was declared deceased on the scene.”

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

In another statement, ER24 spokesperson Werner Vermaak said: “Paramedics from ER24, Midvaal fire and other EMS arrived on the scene where they found an elderly man who was apparently killed by a gyrocopter. He was declared dead on the scene.

“It’s understood from bystanders that members of a family scattered the ashes of a loved one from the gyrocopter, when it allegedly made an emergency landing on the bank. The elderly man was apparently struck by its blades,” he said.