North West – A light aircraft with a Democratic Alliance leader on board has gone missing in Nepal, the opposition party said on Thursday.
The plane, with only a pilot and DA North West deputy leader Petro Nel, on board did not arrive back on schedule after it took off for a sightseeing trip earlier on Thursday.
“We’ve been informed this morning that the flight that she was out for sightseeing has not returned at the scheduled time and they suspect that she was in the plane and they actually also have undergone an investigation with two helicopters,” DA North West leader Joe McGluwa.
McGluwa said Nel left South Africa last week for a long-awaited holiday to Tibet and Nepal.
“To date we don’t have any news. The unfortunate part of the whole saga is that we’ve been told that the search has been called off due to the fact that it’s evening already in Nepal which is four hours ahead of us,” he said.
McGluwa said Nel’s husband and two sons, who did not accompany her on the trip, were liaising with Nepalese authorities for more information.
African News Agency