Plane carrying NWest DA member found in Nepal
The husband of DA deputy leader in North West, Petro Nel, who went missing during a sightseeing flight in Nepal more than a year ago, is preparing to travel to that country after the wreckage of the plane was found.
Debris of the ultra-light aircraft, with Nel and a Russian pilot on board, was spotted in the Himalayan mountain range.
The aircraft went missing on 8 October.
DA Member of Parliament, Chris Hattingh, who is close to Nel's family, says JC Nel will take DNA samples and dental records of his wife to Nepal.
He says the family is in the process of determining what more is needed for a forensic investigation after human remains were recovered from the crash site some 12 000 feet high in a cliff in the mountain range yesterday.
Hattingh says the site was visited for the first time after Nel's family received aerial shots, taken from a private aircraft on another sightseeing flight, about five weeks ago.
Hattingh says the South African Department of Foreign Affairs then requested Nepalese authorities to conduct further investigations.
"For the family this is a form of closure, they now know what happened. It appears that the plane was involved in a high- impact crash and that there was a fire," says Hattingh.