German tourist’s body to be repatriated on Thursday night

The body of German tourist Joerg Schnarr will leave South Africa on Thursday evening.

As part of standard repatriation protocol, Schnarr’s body will be embalmed.

Tourism department spokesperson Steve Motale confirmed to The Citizen that all the paperwork has since been processed ahead of Thursday night’s flight.

Schnarr was murdered on Numbi Road outside the Kruger National Park on Monday afternoon.

Three people have since been taken in for questioning.

ALSO READ: ‘People of interest’ in Kruger Park German tourist murder arrested

Scharr was one of four travellers making their way to one of the country’s top tourist attractions in Mpumalanga.

The German tourists arrived in the country on 20 September, and landed at the Cape Town International Airport. They stayed in Cape Town for four nights, then proceeded to Durban and stayed there for four days.

From Durban, they travelled to the Drakensberg and stayed there for two nights, and then on Monday, drove over 600km to Mpumalanga.

Their stay was cruelly halted after their rented vehicle was ambushed at Numbi gate en route to Mdluli Safari lodge, allegedly by three armed suspects in a VW caddy.

Upset over German media reporting

Schnarr’s wife Vera was upset about how the matter was reported in German media because her children had not been informed of their father’s death.

Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said when the message was conveyed to them, it was not done in a manner she would have approved of, and as a result, the children were more traumatised than the wife who witnessed her husband’s killing.

During their interaction with Sisulu, while still traumatised, the tourists reportedly described the murder as “an isolated incident that could have happened to anyone and that all countries are dealing with some level of criminality”.

The tourists apparently reiterated that they “love” South Africa and the country’s beauty.

ALSO READ: Community alleges suspects in German tourist’s murder linked to other incidents