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TimesLIVE reports that a preliminary investigation by the SA Civil Aviation Authority has confirmed that the helicopter which crashed en route to KwaZulu-Natal last month killing Netcare 911 medics and the pilot broke apart in midair and the impact was “not survivable”.
The Bell 430 helicopter took off from Ultimate Heli heliport in Midrand, Gauteng, on 21 January and headed to Hillcrest Hospital in Pietermaritzburg. On board were a helicopter paramedic, two doctors and a theatre nurse and 12 bottles of oxygen. “After approximately 1.5 hours in flight and cruising at 725ft [221m, above ground level], the helicopter started to spin uncontrollably, breaking up in flight while losing height rapidly. The helicopter impacted the ground and immediately post-impact fire erupted which destroyed the helicopter. All five occupants on board were fatally injured,” the report reads. The wreckage was scattered in a 500m radius at the scene of the crash in Winterton. The Bell 430 had been operating in Angola before being imported, in parts, and being reassembled in SA. The crash claimed the lives of anaesthetist Dr Kgopotso Rudolph Mononyane, cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Curnick Siyabonga (Sia) Mahlangu, specialist theatre nurse Mpho Xaba, advanced life-support paramedic Sinjin Joshua Farrance and pilot Mark Stoxreiter. The investigation continues.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard at TimesLIVE
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