Austrian tourists die in small plane crash in South Africa

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By BNO NEWS

Three people, including two Austrian tourists, have been killed in a small plane crash in the South African city of Benoni, located east of Johannesburg in Gauteng province, emergency services say. There were no survivors.

The accident happened late on Wednesday morning when a Piper PA-32 Cherokee Six belonging to SkyAfrica went down in a park near Rasebetsi Road and Rakele Street in Wattville, which is a township in the city of Benoni.

“ER24 paramedics, along with various services, arrived on the scene to find the burned wreckage of the aircraft lying on its roof,” ER24 spokesman Russel Meiring said. “On assessment, paramedics found the bodies of three people lying inside the aircraft. Unfortunately all three occupants had already succumbed to their fatal injuries.”

The aircraft belonged to SkyAfrica, which was founded in 1981 and provides group tours and self-fly safaris across the south of Africa. The aircraft had taken off from Brakpan Airfield east of Johannesburg and was on its way to the Legend Golf and Safari Lodge in Limpopo.

Those killed were identified as two elderly passengers from Austria and one South African pilot, although their names were not immediately released. Wednesday’s crash happened just a short distance from residential homes, but there were no injuries on the ground.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known and an investigation is now underway.

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