/ 13 January 2008

Six die in Namibia air crash

Five tourists and their pilot have been killed in Namibia after their light aircraft crashed into a house on take-off, officials said on Saturday.

The five dead tourists were identified as Israeli diamond-cutters, according to the Israeli-founded humanitarian organisation Zaka, responsible for the recovery and identification of body parts.

The plane, operated by Atlantic Aviation, crashed during a stop-over in the capital Windhoek for refuelling on Friday, while on its way to the Etosha National Park in the north of the country.

Ericsson Nengola, director of aircraft accident investigations at the department of civil aviation, said the plane was a six-seater Cessna 210, which took off in the late afternoon from Eros airport.

”It crashed about five minutes later into a house in Olympia, a southern suburb,” he said.

”Investigations have started and we can only give details in a few days, but according to eyewitnesses, the sound of the plane’s engine did not sound right,” he added.

Neither Israeli embassy officials nor a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry in Israel could confirm the report. – Sapa-AFP