• LUGERTZIA KOOPER and MERCY KARUUOMBE
THE Zambezi regional police have revealed that the family members of five plane crash victims are yet to identify their remains and repatriate them to their respective countries.
On 30 August four German tourists and a South African pilot died at the scene after the plane they were travelling in crashed along the banks of the Zambezi River at Muwa Village at Impalila Island.
The pilot was identified as Nicole Mienie (21), with passengers Thomas Rings (59), Evelyn Cornelia Rings (57), Alicia Maria Rings (19), and Paulina Lucia Rings (17).
Their next of kin have been informed of their deaths.
Zambezi regional police spokesperson inspector Kisco Sitali says the bodies are currently being kept at the Katima Mulilo State Hospital’s mortuary, while their personal belongings are kept by the police.
He says post-mortems have also been completed.
Sitali did not reveal information on the autopsies.
“The families of the deceased persons are yet to make contact with the police to identify them and to start the repatriation of the bodies,” he says.
Namibian aircraft accident investigator Thomas Herman last week said investigators have retrieved the wreckage of the plane from the river, along with several other items on 6 September to officially commence with their investigation into what caused the fatal crash.
He said all evidence will be transferred to Windhoek.
NO BLACK BOX
Herman said there is currently no information as to what may have caused the accident.
“We can only say that with certainty after we analyse all the evidence, and we cannot indicate how long investigations would take. The plane did not have a black box,” he said.
Herman said investigators have also retrieved personal items of the deceased, as well as the aircraft documents, which are curently with the police.
INVESTIGATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA
Meanwhile, Magnus Abraham, the director of the Directorate of Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigations, which falls under the Ministry of Works and Transport, says the plane’s engine will be transported to South Africa for testing and analysis.
Abraham says the ministry will release a preliminary report as soon as the engine analysis has been completed in South Africa.
He says the engine was on Monday already being transported to South Africa, and the two investigators would arrive there today.
“I think on Thursday it will be tested and analysed, and we will then have a factual report on the engine.”
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