Cape Town - A Pinelands resident who went missing while on a trip to Israel to do missionary work has apparently been found dead in a cemetery in Dar es Salaam.
Authorities in Tanzania are expected to carry out a post-mortem on his body on Monday.
On Saturday a message about what happened to Mark Wilson was posted on a Pinelands safety group on Facebook.
It said that Wilson had left Cape Town shortly before Christmas and had been on a missionary trip to Israel.
The post said he was reported missing 10 days ago, and was then found dead in Dar es Salaam.
On Sunday the spokesman for the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, Clayson Monyela, said the department had been unable to confirm Wilson’s death with foreign authorities over the weekend, but should have more information by Monday.
On Sunday, a friend of Wilson’s said a post-mortem was to be undertaken because it was not yet clear what had happened to him.
The friend declined to comment further, saying she felt this would be up to Wilson’s relatives, who were “very upset”.
Some details about his death were posted on his Facebook wall by his friends and relatives sharing news on what they understood had happened to him.
A relative said: “Our family is shocked and devastated to learn of his death. Thanks to all for your kind words. It is wonderful to see how much Mark was loved. All we know so far is that he was found in a graveyard, with no personal belongings except for his passport. There were no visible injuries. They are doing the post-mortem in Tanzania on Monday. Only then will we really know what happened and how he died. We will be making arrangements to have him returned to SA to be cremated.”
A friend posted that it appeared Wilson had been left in the cemetery. “Thus, he possibly died somewhere else of illness or other fatal ailment.”
The friend said Wilson had travelled a lengthy distance on a train and might have contracted malaria.
It appeared that Wilson’s last post on the platform was on January 7, the day he apparently went missing. The post said: “I was wondering what has been happening in the world while I’ve been missioning in Africa. Same old idiocy it seems… Now targeting TODDLERS in the UK?!”
He was referring to a “controversial” document linked to a UK bill.
Cape Argus