Tag: crashed

Burned bodies of Easter pilgrims still lie inside a bus that crashed off a bridge in South Africa


MMAMATLAKALA, South Africa (AP) — Emergency workers in South Africa were searching Friday for the bodies of victims after a bus carrying pilgrims to an Easter gathering plunged off a bridge and caught fire. An 8-year-old child was the only survivor of the crash that killed at least 45.

Hours after the Thursday afternoon crash, smoke seeped from the mangled, burned wreck underneath the concrete bridge. Authorities said it appeared that the driver lost control and the bus ploughed into the barriers along the side of the bridge and then over the edge. The driver was among the dead.

The crash happened in a mountainous region near the town of Mokopane, which is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the South African capital, Pretoria.

The Limpopo provincial government said the bus, which was carrying pilgrims from Botswana, veered off the Mmamatlakala bridge and plunged 50 meters (164 feet) into a ravine.

It said many bodies were burned beyond recognition and trapped inside the vehicle, while other victims had been thrown from the bus.

“We were at the scene,” said local resident Simone Mayema, who said he was one of the first to arrive. “We tried to help (but) there was nothing we could do because there was flames.”

Forensic investigators worked through the wreckage early Friday, but while some bodies had been recovered, others were believed to be still inside what was left of the bus, which was almost crushed flat.

There was no new information on the status of the child who somehow survived the horrific crash. Officials at the hospital where the child was taken declined to give an update. Government officials were expected to hold a press conference later Friday.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the victims appeared to be all from Botswana and had been on their way to the town of Moria in Limpopo for a popular Easter weekend pilgrimage that attracts hundreds of thousands of worshippers from South Africa and neighboring countries who follow the Zion Christian Church.

Ramaphosa had phoned Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi to offer his condolences and said the South African government would do all it can to help, according to a statement from Ramaphosa’s office.

Provincial authorities said the bus had a Botswana license plate.

South African Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Chikunga was in Limpopo province for a road safety campaign and changed her plans in order to visit the crash scene on Thursday after hearing the “devastating news,” the national Department of Transport said. Chikunga said there was an investigation underway into the cause of the crash and offered her condolences to the families of the victims.

The South African government often warns motorists to be cautious during the Easter holidays, which is a particularly busy and dangerous time for road travel as millions of South Africans travel from cities back to their rural family homes or make religious trips.

Foreigners also make long road journeys back to their neighboring home countries as Easter Friday and Easter Monday are both national holidays, giving people four days off.

More than 200 people died in road crashes during the Easter weekend last year. Just a day before this crash, the South African government called on people to be extra careful on Thursday and Friday because of the expected high volumes traveling by road, including around Moria.

The Zion Christian Church has its headquarters in Moria and this year is the first time its Easter pilgrimage has been set to go ahead since the COVID-19 pandemic. The pilgrimage is renowned as the church’s faithful pour into the small town from across the southern African region.

The worshippers gather near where a giant star — the church’s emblem — and the words “Zion City Moria” are painted in white on a hillside.

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Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.

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AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa



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WWII ace pilot Richard Bong’s plane crashed in 1944. A team has launched a search for the wreckage in the South Pacific.


A Wisconsin museum is partnering with a historical preservation group in a search for the wreckage of World War II ace Richard Bong’s plane in the South Pacific.

The Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center in Superior and the nonprofit World War II historical preservation group Pacific Wrecks announced the search on Friday, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

Bong, who grew up in Poplar, is credited with shooting down 40 Japanese aircraft during World War II — the most ever, according to the Air Force. He flew a Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter plane nicknamed “Marge” in honor of his girlfriend, Marjorie Vattendahl. Bong plastered a blow-up of Vattendahl’s portrait on the nose of the plane, according to a Pacific Wrecks’ summary of the plane’s service.

Bong Plane-Expedition
Captain Richard J. Bong, of Poplar, Wisc., points to a large picture of his girl friend, Marge Battendahl on his Lighting P-38 fighter plane pilot stationed at a New Guinea Air Base, on March 31, 1944. 

/ AP


Bong said at the time that Vattendahl “looks swell, and a hell of a lot better than these naked women painted on most of the airplanes,” the Los Angeles Times reported in Vattendahl’s 2003 obituary.

Another pilot, Thomas Malone, was flying the plane in March 1944 over what is now known as Papua New Guinea when engine failure sent it into a spin. Malone bailed out before the plane crashed in the jungle.

Pacific Wrecks founder Justin Taylan will lead the search for the plane. He plans to leave for Papua New Guinea in May. He believes the search could take almost a month and cost about $63,000 generated through donations.

Taylan told Minnesota Public Radio that he’s confident he’ll find the wreckage since historical records provide an approximate location of the crash site. But he’s not sure there will be enough left to conclusively identify it as Marge.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to find the ultimate proof, which will be a serial number from the airplane that says this airplane is Marge,” Taylan said.

Bong shot down more planes than any other American pilot, earning celebrity status. Gen. Douglas MacArthur awarded him the Medal of Honor, the U.S. military’s highest decoration, in 1944.

According to the Air Force Historical Support Division, his Medal of Honor citation reads: “For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty in action in the Southwest Pacific area from Oct. 10 to Nov. 15, 1944. Though assigned to duty as gunnery instructor and neither required nor expected to perform combat duty, Major Bong voluntarily and at his own urgent request engaged in repeated combat missions, including unusually hazardous sorties over Balikpapan, Borneo, and in the Leyte area of the Philippines. His aggressiveness and daring resulted in his shooting down enemy airplanes totaling eight during this period.”

Bong also earned the Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars, seven Distinguished Flying Crosses and 15 Air Medals, according to the Air Force.

ap440330072.jpg
Captain Richard I. Bong on March 30, 1944.

AP Photo


Bong married Vattendahl in 1945. He was assigned to duty as a test pilot in Burbank, California, after three combat tours in the South Pacific. He was killed on Aug. 6, 1945, when a P-80 jet fighter he was testing crashed.

He died on the same day the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

Vattendhal was 21 when Bong died. She went on to become a model and a magazine publisher in Los Angeles. She died in September 2003 in Superior.

The search for Bong’s plane comes just weeks after a deep-sea exploration team searching for the wreckage of Amelia Earhart’s lost plane in the South Pacific said it captured a sonar image that “appears to be Earhart’s Lockheed 10-E Electra” aircraft.



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A firefighting helicopter crashed in Southern California while fighting a blaze, officials say


CABAZON, Calif. (AP) — A firefighting helicopter crashed in Southern California on Sunday while fighting a blaze in Riverside County, emergency officials said.

The helicopter was performing work under contract with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, fire captain and spokesman Richard Cordova said.

Sheriff’s deputies responded at 7:20 p.m. PDT to an air emergency in the area of Pipeline Road and Apache trail as crews were battling the Broadway fire near Cabazon, according to a post by the Riverside County Sheriff’s office on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The department is still investigating the crash and whether other aircraft were involved, Cordova said.

Details were not immediately available on the number of injuries or fatalities.





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Human remains found in search for Australian army helicopter that crashed at sea



The search for an Australian army helicopter that crashed at sea killing four people during a military exercise with the United States last week found human remains but not the black box crucial to explaining the tragedy, an officer said on Thursday.

Recovering the four air crew and the black box flight data recorder have been the main priorities since an MRH-90 Taipan helicopter crashed on July 28 during a nighttime operation in the Whitsunday Islands off the northeast Australian coast.

An underwater drone spotted the human remains and part of the cockpit at a depth of 131 feet on Wednesday, said Army Lt.-Gen. Greg Bilton, who is coordinating the operation.

“The debris field is consistent with a catastrophic, high impact” with the ocean surface, Bilton told reporters.

The Australian navy would soon deploy specialized equipment to retrieve the wreckage and remains, he said.

The search and recovery operation, which has involved the U.S. and Canadian militaries, has been hampered by bad weather and strong currents.

Searchers were determined to recover the black box, which contains flight data and cockpit voice recordings.

“It’s a difficult task but we’ll do our absolute best to find it and, as you know, the black box is critical to helping us to understand what’s actually taken place,” Bilton said.

The crashed Taipan had been taking part in Talisman Sabre, a biennial U.S.-Australian military exercise that is largely based in Queensland state. This year’s exercise involves 13 nations and more than 30,000 military personnel.

A French Airbus helicopter had been flying with three aircraft and “communications were normal” before the crash, Bilton said.

A rescue operation began immediately but officials said on Monday there was no longer any chance of finding survivors.

Australia’s fleet of more than 40 Taipans has been grounded since the crash and there are doubts any will fly again.

The government announced in January plans to replace them with 40 U.S. Black Hawk helicopters. The Taipans’ retirement date of December 2024 would be 13 years earlier than Australia had initially planned.

Since that announcement, the fleet was grounded in March after a Taipan ditched off the New South Wales state coast near the naval base at Jervis Bay during a nighttime counterterrorism training exercise. All 10 passengers and crew members were rescued.



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