Relatives of some of the South Africans killed in the Afriqiyah Airways crash in Libya earlier this week will begin the difficult task of identifying remains on Friday.
“They flew up last night [Thursday] and transited in Cairo. They would arrive this morning,” said international relations consular director Dayanand Naidoo.
The airline said 13 South Africans were on board when the plane crashed as it was about to land in Tripoli, killing 103 people.
Only a small Dutch boy, Ruben van Assouw, survived.
The department said it would not release information of those who died until it was absolutely certain about all the details, but the airline said there were also one Zimbabwean, two Libyans, two Austrians, one German, one French, one British and four Belgian nationals, and the 11 crew members were Libyan.
On their arrival in Tripoli, relatives would be met by embassy staff and accommodated at a hotel and would have emotional support for the day ahead.
The Afriqiyah Airways plane took off from OR Tambo International Airport on Tuesday night, and crashed as it was about to land on Wednesday morning, breaking up over a wide space.
Libya asked French investigators to assist their civil aviation department with determining a cause for the crash. — Sapa