A light aircraft that went missing after it took off from Pietermaritzburg was found on Wednesday morning with no survivors on board, rescue services said.
The plane, with the bodies of three occupants, was found at Rhino’s Peak in the southern Drakensberg, near Underberg in KwaZulu-Natal, said Santjie White, a spokesperson for the South African Search and Rescue Organisation.
The aircraft took off from Cato Ridge, near Pietermaritzburg, on Tuesday afternoon but never arrived at its intended destination, Tempe in Bloemfontein.
A ground search in the Drakensberg near Himeville on Tuesday evening turned up no results.
By Wednesday morning, poor weather in the area lifted, allowing police and a team from the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to conduct an aerial search, said police spokesperson Superintendent Zandra Hechter.
Rescuers had to travel by helicopter and then hike for four hours to reach the crash site, she said.
Search parties from the police force, SANDF, the Mountain Club of South Africa and several KwaZulu-Natal organisations were involved in attempts to find the missing plane. — Sapa