Durban - The SA Defence Force is investigating its third military aircraft accident in four months after a helicopter crashed in the Kruger National Park on Saturday night, killing all five soldiers on board.
It is the fourth of the SA Air force’s Italian-made Agusta A109 light utility helicopter – procured as part of the government’s strategic defence package – to crash in SA since 2009.
There are also conflicting statements as to why the Agusta A109 was flying over the park.
According to the military, it was on a scheduled aerial patrol as part of Operation Rhino, an anti-rhino poaching initiative, when it crashed at approximately at 7pm.
However, SA National Parks spokesman Ike Phaahla said on Sunday the soldiers were not part of the rhino anti-poaching unit, but were travelling to their base near the park.
Phaahla referred all further media enquiries to the SANDF.
All spokesman Brigadier-General Xolani Mabanga would say was that an investigation was under way.
Mabanga was adamant that the five soldiers were part of the anti-poaching operation. “They were in the Kruger as part of Operation Rhino.
“We therefore find statements by Sanparks to be irresponsible and frankly, we don’t take kindly to that,” he said.
The names of the deceased were expected to be released on Monday.
In December 2010, an A109 crashed near Ballito.
At the time, as a precautionary measure, the Directorate of Helicopter Systems, responsible for operational control, ordered that all Agusta 109s around the country stop flying until the all-clear was given that the accident had not been caused by a mechanical failure.
A passenger on board the helicopter suffered a broken back and pelvis, but the pilot and flight engineer did not sustain any serious injuries.
The aircraft was seriously damaged, with the tail almost separated by the main rotor on landing.
Three weeks before that, another A109 was involved in a hard landing near Potchefstroom, causing severe damage.
And in May 2009, an A109 en-route to a mountain flying exercise crashed into the Woodstock Dam, killing its three crew members.
More recently, an SANDF C-47 Dakota aircraft carrying a crew of six and five passengers crashed at Giants Castle in the Drakensberg on December 5 last year, killing all 11 on board, the military confirmed.
On November 7, another Dakota C-47 was damaged when it experienced a hard landing at Umtata airport.
Commenting on Sunday on the latest crash, President Jacob Zuma expressed his condolences to the soldiers’ families. “We certainly hope that investigations will shed light on the circumstances of the crash but the whole country is saddened by the loss of our national servicemen on duty,” he said.
The tragedy occurred in the week that South Africans were mourning the death of 13 SANDF soldiers in the Central African Republic.
Mabanga said the names of the crash victims could not be released until it was confirmed that all family members had been notified.
The SA National Defence Union said the deaths represented “one of the blackest weeks in SA military history”, and called on the SANDF to commission a board of inquiry into the accident.
“SA soldiers are at the forefront of fighting the scourge of rhino poaching in our country and are doing an excellent job for which they place their lives in mortal danger daily,” the union’s national secretary, Pikkie Greeff, said in a statement.
“Let us respect and admire the services and sacrifices of our SANDF members to our country.
“May their souls rest in peace and their sacrifice never be forgotten.”
The SAPS had passed their condolences via Twitter, saying: “Their commitment to protect our heritage will never be forgotten.”
Rhino poaching is rampant in SA and the horns are often sold in Asia, where some believe they have medicinal purposes, although there is no evidence to support it.
So far this year, 188 rhinos have been poached in South Africa, 135 in Kruger alone, according to government figures released this week.
In 2012, 668 rhinos were poached in South Africa, a 50 percent rise on the previous year and double the number killed illegally in 2010.
Last year 424 rhinos were killed in the Kruger National Park, up from 252 in 2011 and 146 the year before that.
The Kruger National Park led the rhino slaughter statistics compared with the rest of the country.
Daily News