The wreckage of a Cessna 172 that went missing after leaving South Africa was found in the Abjaterskop area outside the Madikwe Game Reserve in Botswana on Friday, the Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre (ARCC) said.
The only occupant of the plane was found dead.
The Cessna 172 had taken off from Lanseria airport near Johannesburg on Thursday morning, bound for Madikwe in Botswana. It was scheduled to arrive at 11am, but failed to do so.
”It is with regret that the ARCC took note of the occupant being fatally injured in the accident. The ARCC wishes to extend our sincere condolences to the next of kin,” the organisation said in a statement.
South African Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) spokesperson Phindiwe Gwebu said the wreckage was found just after 10am. The pilot’s name could not be released as the family was still being informed.
The South African Air Force, various private volunteer organisations, pilots from the Lanseria Flight Centre, personnel of the Madikwe Game Reserve and surrounding areas, emergency services in the Pilanesberg and Rustenburg area, the police and Gaborone Air-Traffic Control took part in the search.
The matter has been handed over to the CAA and police for investigation. Gwebu said two investigators had been sent to the site.
This accident is the latest in a spate of tragedies involving South African aircraft.
On Thursday, a search team got closer to the wreckage of a Cessna Caravan in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) believed to be that of a South African plane chartered by the World Food Programme.
However, Gwebu said the team had to turn back as mountain ridges around the scene made access impossible. ”Today [Friday] they will use helicopters to attempt to get the rescuers on top of the mountain.”
The Cessna went missing on its way to Bunia aerodrome in the DRC after taking off from Goma in the eastern part of the country on April 28. Contact with the aircraft carrying two crew and one passenger was subsequently lost.
A Cessna Caravan was identified on the mountainous Ugandan side of the border with the DRC, and the occupants of the aircraft have not yet been accounted for. Several attempts by rescue teams to reach the accident site have been unsuccessful.
South Africa’s CAA has requested participation in the investigation, but due to internal procedures in Uganda, this has not yet been granted.
Meanwhile, new information shows that it was 10 people and not eight who died in a South African-registered Convair 580 aircraft that fell from the sky on approach to the Amisi airport near Lubutu in the DRC.
Four crew and six passengers died, including South African captains Andre Nel and Andre Greyvenstein, on April 26.
Nel, who was the co-owner of the Pretoria Flying School, was a Boeing 747 pilot with a total of more than 10 000 hours logged. Greyvenstein was an instructor at the flying school with more than 1 000 hours. He was also the safety officer at the school.
Six Congolese, two air crew and four passengers also died in the crash. ”On landing, the aircraft caught fire and all occupants were confirmed dead on site,” said Gwebu.
Two South African CAA investigators left for the site on Wednesday.
An update will be issued soon, said Gwebu. — Sapa