AMID a hive of activity at Joint Operations Centre set up to search for the two planes that went missing near Tzaneen on Sunday, rescue searchers were frustrated by cold and cloudy conditions to find the planes.
Five helicopters, including an SA Air Force Oryx, which was dispatched from the Hoedspruit Airforce Base, lifted off at about 40 minute intervals throughout the afternoon, searching in vain in mountainous terrain.
By 5pm yesterday, the search was called off.
"They are currently rerouting the helicopters to the centre and there has been no indication of a crash site yet,"Greater Mopani District Municipality spokesperson Mashadi Mathosa said.
At about 4.30pm, the Oryx left with a team of four search and rescue members on board, taking another stab at finding the two Albatros aeroplanes.
On its return, rescue team members, of whom many had to sleep in the veld overnight on Sunday, were fed dinner and coffee.
They were debriefed and had the night to rest, before regrouping to start the search at 6.30am.
Yesterday's search and rescue efforts continued in an atmosphere of tense efficiency, as every bit of information coming in to the centre was plotted on a map, and coordinates of any possible sighting sent to a helicopter.
The helicopter then swooped down to pick up a team of four rescuers, and headed out to the search areas, where the teams were dropped to search on foot.
The search included more than 100 members from various organisations such as the Limpopo Emergency Services, the SAAF, police, the Off Road Rescue and Mountain Rescue units and private pilots. It stretched over an area of between 180km² and 210km² in mountainous and vegetated terrain between Maake and George's Valley in the Wolkberge.
Low cloud cover and heavy fog limited visibility to about 10m, and caused the helicopters to be ineffective as search platforms, and could only be used to ferry search teams.
Aviation authorities lost contact with the two Albatros aircraft, confirmed to be carrying 13 passengers, at around 3pm on Sunday.
The planes were returning to Rand Airport from an airshow organised at the Tarentaal airstrip, about 15km outside Tzaneen.
No trace of missing two planes
AMID a hive of activity at Joint Operations Centre set up to search for the two planes that went missing near Tzaneen on Sunday, rescue searchers were frustrated by cold and cloudy conditions to find the planes.
Five helicopters, including an SA Air Force Oryx, which was dispatched from the Hoedspruit Airforce Base, lifted off at about 40 minute intervals throughout the afternoon, searching in vain in mountainous terrain.
By 5pm yesterday, the search was called off.
"They are currently rerouting the helicopters to the centre and there has been no indication of a crash site yet,"Greater Mopani District Municipality spokesperson Mashadi Mathosa said.
At about 4.30pm, the Oryx left with a team of four search and rescue members on board, taking another stab at finding the two Albatros aeroplanes.
On its return, rescue team members, of whom many had to sleep in the veld overnight on Sunday, were fed dinner and coffee.
They were debriefed and had the night to rest, before regrouping to start the search at 6.30am.
Yesterday's search and rescue efforts continued in an atmosphere of tense efficiency, as every bit of information coming in to the centre was plotted on a map, and coordinates of any possible sighting sent to a helicopter.
The helicopter then swooped down to pick up a team of four rescuers, and headed out to the search areas, where the teams were dropped to search on foot.
The search included more than 100 members from various organisations such as the Limpopo Emergency Services, the SAAF, police, the Off Road Rescue and Mountain Rescue units and private pilots. It stretched over an area of between 180km² and 210km² in mountainous and vegetated terrain between Maake and George's Valley in the Wolkberge.
Low cloud cover and heavy fog limited visibility to about 10m, and caused the helicopters to be ineffective as search platforms, and could only be used to ferry search teams.
Aviation authorities lost contact with the two Albatros aircraft, confirmed to be carrying 13 passengers, at around 3pm on Sunday.
The planes were returning to Rand Airport from an airshow organised at the Tarentaal airstrip, about 15km outside Tzaneen.
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