Helderberg crash victims remembered 35 years on

Thirty-five years after the Helderberg aeroplane crashed and 159 people died, friends and family of the victims still mourn their deaths.

The South African Airway Museum hosted the first memorial service for the victims who went missing on South African Airways flight 295 (a commercial flight) in the Indian Ocean in the middle of the night on 28 November, 1987.

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During the memorial service, guest speakers paid tribute to the victims, followed by a candle-lighting ceremony and the laying of wreaths as flags were dropped to half-mast.

Retired captain Karl Jensen flew the SAA Boeing 747 and he gave a historical overview of the plane and the incident at the memorial.

Jenssen gave an emotional shout-out to the son of the junior flight engineer, Alan Daniel, at the memorial. Mark Daniel was attended the memorial with his toddler son but was too emotional to talk about his father’s passing.

“I was younger than my son when my father died. I was four when he passed away,” Daniel said.

The senior flight engineer on the flight, the late Joe Bellagarda’s granddaughter, Delta said when her grandmother passed away in 2018 her ashes were scattered where the plane went missing on the way to Mauritius.

Bellegarde was the last person to make contact from the plane and said ‘there’s smoke in the cockpit moments before the plane crashed and no one ever heard from them again.

“I never knew my grandfather but I knew my grandmother and saw how his passing affected her. It’s great they can be together again because he was the greatest love of her love. She never got over him,” Bellagarda said.

Controversy involving airplane crash

Lionel Chapman was part of the original search crew and said the memorial was long overdue.

“It should have been remembered from day one because of all the lives lost. Unfortunately, the crash has always reeked with controversy about what happened,” he said.

Chapman said they searched for months and searched on the ground and under the sea at 4000 feet.

“We lifted parts of wreckage to the surface. It was a very traumatic experience because we saw human remains entangled in the wreckage,” he said.

Captain Andre de Wilzem – also known as Captain Tutu – was one of the last to see the cabin crew before they passed away.

“It was sad to me, after two hours of sleep we walked into the foyer of Ambassador hotel and spoke to the entire crew,” he said.

Emotional rollercoaster

De Wilem said it was very hurtful and painful to relive those memories

“35 years later. You would think after all those years it would get better but never does. I do believe that day, they all earned a new set of wings. They are now flying somewhere else. My tribute to all the crew and passengers that were killed so tragically,” he said.

The SAMS vice chairman Peter Boshoff said a group of 130 members kept the museum going.

“Although this is 35 years ago, when we got together as a group, it was like it happened yesterday. It never died in our minds and hearts. This was the biggest disaster in the history of South African aviation, 159 people lost their lives in one accident. We lost one of the largest aircraft that was flying at the time. It was a shock and tragedy,” he said.

Boshoff described the crash as an emotional rollercoaster for 35 years.

“What we went through on the day, it was like we died for a moment too,” he said.

Earlier this year South African Press Association (Sapa) said the causes of both incidents needed to be reviewed.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Dumisa Ntsebeza said new evidence heard by the TRC on the 1987 Helderberg air crash and the 1986 plane crash which killed Mozambique president Samora Machel cast a doubt on previous inquiries.

marizkac@citizen.co.za

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