South Africans thought to be on missing plane

Nielen Bottomley, News24

Cape Town – Search and rescue teams have teamed up to find a light aircraft that was last heard from over Mozambique's northwest.

The small Baron 58 was carrying 2 people, thought to be South Africans, when it took off from Lilongwe airport en route to Lanseria airport, north of Johannesburg, on Sunday.

The plane started experiencing engine difficulties in Mozambique, and the pilot rerouted to Beira where he never arrived.

Santjie White, chief of the Aeronautical Rescue Centre in Johannesburg told News24 that six planes, a team of the Mountain Club of South Africa, and the voluntary communication group Hamnet were dispatched to Mozambique to help in the search.

White said the aircraft never entered South African airspace.

The plane did not send out a distress signal and no sign of it has been found.

After searching for the plane in vain on Sunday, Mozambique handed management of the search operation over to South Africa on Monday, where a joint search operation was adopted.

- News24