‘My son Adrian was a hero’

ADRIAN Nel, the South African who was killed in the northern Mozambique Islamic State (IS) raid last weekend, has been hailed as a hero as he continued driving in an effort to save others despite having been shot.

He, his father Greg and brother Wesley were fleeing with others from the Amarula Palma Hotel on Friday last week after being ambushed by the insurgents.

“Adrian was a hero,” his mother, Meryl Knox, said yesterday.

“Apparently Adrian ran out of a safe place to retrieve an AK-47 that had been left behind. He then brought it back so that they at least had some sort of weapon with them, but apparently it (the weapon) didn’t work.

“After he was shot, he continued to drive them to safety, to get away from the ambush until he couldn’t drive further. My husband tried everything to stop Adrian bleeding and spent the night with him in the bush.

“Luckily DAG (Dyck Advisory Group) choppers came in the morning. The chopper guys went to retrieve the body. They were amazing,” said Knox.

She said she understood that DAG, private military contractors, were the only people there, although there had been “lots of people behind the scenes, trying”.

Yesterday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said SANDF troops had been sent to Cabo Delgado to help secure the towns of Palma and Pemba.

Knox said Greg and Wesley were too traumatised to speak to the media, becoming even more distressed by arriving at King Shaka International Airport on Wednesday aboard the aircraft carrying Nel’s body. Authorities retrieved the body for investigation relating to terrorism.

She said her son, who would have turned 41 this past Wednesday (April 1), would have wished to have a get-together of friends on a beach to celebrate his life rather than a formal event. This will be held once his Canadian wife’s parents can reach South Africa.

Meanwhile, Adrian’s brother, Wesley, is organising a crowdfunding campaign with Back-a-Buddy to raise funds to help Nel’s widow and three children. Knox said the world must not forget about northern Mozambique.

On Wednesday last week hundreds of insurgents stormed Palma in Cabo Delgado, attacking shops and banks, leaving decapitated bodies in the streets. About 200 people took shelter in the hotel. Palma is the closest town to the site of French oil and gas giant Total and other international companies which had invested billions to extract liquified natural gas offshore in what is among the world’s largest natural gas finds.

Many expats providing services to Total were based in Palma. Since the attack, Total has evacuated workers and suspended operations. It had been restarting operations after a suspension in late December 2020 after a number of jihadist raids near its compound.

On Friday last week, the insurgents were outside the hotel and those trapped inside had to make a desperate bid to escape by forming a convoy of vehicles or risk waiting until the morning for help. After being alerted by her husband, Knox went online to reveal the chaos unfolding in Palma, with her story going global, including being aired on many of the world’s top news channels.

On Thursday, Department of International Relations spokesperson Clayson Monyela said all 44 reported South Africans had been found. “The embassy has said there could be other South Africans missing, but we have had no reports or requests from families reporting someone missing. However, we will continue to track and trace.”

He said the 44 traced South Africans had either returned home or had been taken to safer regions in Mozambique.

IS claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out by the Islamic State Central Africa Province, the SITE extremist monitoring group said. Seven people were killed during the hotel siege, said Mozambique defence department spokesman Omar Saranga. AFP reported yesterday that survivors of the attack were still streaming into Pemba on Thursday.