TUESDAY, 5.30PM
BOTH the SA Air Fortce and the Pentagon late on Tuesday announced the recovery of the first physical evidence of a collission between a German and a US military aircraft off the coast of Angola.
A piece of the fuselage of the US C141 military aircraft was retrieved from the same area where debris from the German Tupolev aircraft was found, said Captain Joy Rautenbach of the Maritime Rescue Co-ordinating Centre at Silvermine, Cape Town, on Tuesday. Until now, only wreckage from the German aircraft had been recovered.
“One could see that as an indication that two aircraft have indeed plunged into the sea after a mid-air collision. There is no other explanation,” Rautenbach said.
TUESDAY, 4.30PM
THREE German flags, a video recorder and a compact disc were on Tuesday found in the Atlantic Ocean off the Angolan coast, where a German and United States military aircraft were feared to have collided on Saturday afternoon. A body was pulled from the sea late on Monday, and it was due to be taken to Namibia on Tuesday for identification.
“All indications are that these items are from the German aircraft,” the SA Air Force said in a statement in Pretoria. The SAAF said there is still no sign of the US C141 transport aircraft. New information indicates it might have plunged into the sea away from the present search area. “It is possible that this aircraft was still capable of flying after the collision,” the SAAF’s Lieutenant Colonel Laverne Machine said.
“Information has just been received that a ship reported seeing a flash and a fire on the horizon on Saturday. It is suspected that this might have been the US aircraft, and part of the search will be moved to that area,” she added.
As an extensive international search for clues about the suspected collision continued on Tuesday, the SAAF confirmed that one body was lifted from the sea late on Monday. It was found about 95 nautical miles west of the Cunene River mouth, where the German Tupolev transport aircraft was believed to have gone down.
A US C141 transport aircraft and the Tupolev simultaneously disappeared from radar screens at the spot on Saturday afternoon. The German aircraft was carrying 24 people to Cape Town, while the US plane was going to Ascension and was believed to have had nine crew on board.
The air forces taking part in the search on Monday agreed to fly in demarcated areas to prevent further collisions. Eleven aircraft are be scanning about 150 square nautical miles for clues about the missing aircraft. Germany, the US, France, South Africa, and Namibia have made a total of 15 aircraft available for the operation, involving 265 search and rescue staff.