Niël Terblanché
THE 58-year-old Hannes van der Walt sustained severe injuries when he crashed to the ground on a beach near Jakkalsputz while flying a motorised paraglider.
The head of the Directorate of Aircraft Accident Investigation, Magnus Abraham, confirmed the accident and said that the pilot sustained severe injuries during the crash.
“From the initial investigation we could deduct that the pilot was caught in strong wind gust that caused him to lose control over the rig he was flying which caused him to fall,” he said.
According to Abraham anglers fishing a few hundred metres away from where the pilot witnessed the entire incident.
“Interviews with the fishermen cast more light on what transpired. They told our investigator on the ground that they saw the paraglider flying near them and that it suddenly lost altitude. They initially thought that the pilot was landing on the beach but when they did not see him get up after landing they rushed to his aid,” Abraham said.
He said that when the anglers arrived on the scene of the crash they discovered that the pilot was seriously injured and immediately summoned the Namibian Police and the Life-Link Ambulance service.
According to Abraham the severely injured pilot was transported to the Cottage hospital in Swakopmund but that he was flown to Windhoek on an ambulance flight for intensive medical treatment in the capital shortly after his arrival at the first hospital.
“From witness statements and the accident scene it is quite clear that strong wind was in all probability the cause of the accident,” he said.
He said that the accident could have had tragic consequences if it was not for the anglers on the beach given the remoteness of the crash site.
According to the incident report provided by the Namibian Police in the Erongo Region the accident occurred near Jakkalsputz at around 13:15 on Friday afternoon.
