Four dead in Wild Coast chopper crash

Rescue teams and police ware making their way to a helicopter crash site on the Wild Coast where four people are said to have died.

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Durban - Rescue teams and police were making their way to a helicopter crash site on the Wild Coast on Thursday morning.

According to early reports on Thursday, the helicopter crashed with four people on board in the Ndengane area between Port Edward and Port St Johns. It had left Margate on Wednesday.

Members of the Ndengane and Mkambati Nature Reserve communities had seen the helicopter going low over the mountains before the crash, said Eastern Cape Emergency Medical Services spokesman, Ashok Munilal.

It appears that the helicopter, a Robinson 44, may have been flying in the strong winds which hit the South Coast in the afternoon.

Munilal said: “Emergency crews were dispatched from Port St Johns on Wednesday. From a distance they saw the crash site.

“The weather was not conducive for a search. The area where the crash took place was not accessible,” he said.

Munilal said an EMS and a SAPS helicopter had been dispatched to the site at first light on Thursday.

“The community has told us four people have died. We have not gone to the site to confirm the number. The medical teams are making their way.”

Yolande van Rensberg, of Margate Airport, said on Thursday she was waiting for feedback from the search and rescue teams.

The helicopter left the airport after midday.

The names of the victims have yet to been released.

According to unconfirmed reports the helicopter bears the livery of the Gladiator Security company

A member of staff of the company, in Hibberdene, refused to give details on the missing men this morning, but said the daughter-in-law of the company’s owner, Braam Swanepoel, was at Margate Airport awaiting news.

Eastern Cape police spokeswoman, Colonel Sibongile Soci, confirmed rescue teams were making their way to the crash site this morning.

She could not confirm the number of victims but early police reports put the death toll at four.

Daily News