by BONEZZ 12 Replies latest jw friends
Nice rant Happydad...in fact let's take turns.
Bliss...I think if you Google the name I mentioned, Jehovah's Witness World News or somethin' like that, it'll pop up and then there's a whole article on the crash. If I remember correctly they did mention names...hope it's no one you know.
-BONEZZ
They're named in this article from The Sunday Times in Perth, Western Australia
http://www.sundaytimes.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,10724666%255E401,00.html
Shannon Farmer (the cousin of the dececed who didn't take the plane ride) is (was?) the Chair of the Blood Liason Cmty in Perth and a well regarded Bro.
A very sad event.
Regards, Max
Australian family dies flying over falls
By Holly Nott and Tim Clarke
10sep04
A THREE-week African holiday ended in tragedy when a joy flight over Zambia's spectacular Victoria Falls resulted in the deaths of three members of a Perth family and two of their friends.
A spokesman for the family today confirmed Shirley Watters, 58, her son Matthew Watters and his wife Justine Watters, both aged 26, all died in the light aircraft crash north of the world-famous falls yesterday.
The Watters, from Darlington in the Perth Hills, had been travelling with unnamed British friends, described as a couple aged in their 20s, who were also killed, along with the Canadian pilot.
Officials in Zambia and from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in Australia are continuing their investigations into how the Cessna 210 crashed 33km north-east of Livingstone, on the Zambia/Zimbabwe border, killing all six people onboard.
Zambia's civil aviation director Chitalu Kabalika confirmed that shortly after take-off the pilot relayed he had an engine problem.
Less than 50 minutes later, the wreckage of the light aircraft was found in the Zimba region of Zambia, between Livingstone and Kalomo.
The two young couples had chartered the light aircraft from Zambian company Airwaves Airlink to fly some 700km from a tourist camp in South Luangwa National Park to Victoria Falls on Wednesday morning.
Shirley Watters joined the two couples on the flight, while her husband Kim, along with his cousin Shannon Farmer, and Shannon's wife Kristen - who also are from Perth - remained at the safari camp.
"After flying to Victoria Falls they stayed overnight and their return flight departed at 3.30pm (11.30pm AEST) on Thursday," the family spokesman, who declined to be named, said.
"Some 20 minutes into the flight the aircraft transmitted a mayday advising that the engine was losing oil.
"That was the last that was heard of the plane and a search and rescue helicopter discovered the wreckage shortly thereafter."
Formal identification of the bodies has not yet been completed. However, a search and rescue helicopter found the wreckage late yesterday and confirmed there were no survivors.
The family spokesman said Kim Watters and Shannon and Kristen Farmer were advised of the tragedy by representatives of the airline at 5.30pm yesterday (1.30am Friday AEST).
DFAT said consular assistance from the Australian High Commission in Harare was being provided to the remaining members of the party, who are due to return to Perth within days.
"We're saddened to learn of the death of three West Australians from the same family in a plane crash near Victoria Falls," a DFAT spokeswoman said.
Mr Kabalika said the light aircraft was registered in South Africa, to the Travel Africa company, and had been chartered by Airwaves Airlink.
Airwaves Airlink managing director Theo Goveia refused requests for an interview when contacted by AAP today, but was quoted by the Times of Zambia as saying the plane crashed because of mechanical failure.
He told the newspaper that under aviation rules and regulations, maintenance works on foreign aircraft were not permitted to be carried out locally.
Acknowledged as one of the natural wonders of the world, Victoria Falls is one of the world's most popular tourist destinations.
The falls are 1708m wide, making it the largest curtain of water in the world. It drops between 90m and 107m into the Zambezi Gorge and an average of 550,000 cubic metres of water plummets over the edge every minute.
We had the token 7'-0 tall man from Africa tell us at the last assembly of how his
life was psared during the civil war while he was praying to the J.
Well he's staying in the states now, without his family. I guess his faith must not
be that great that he comes here. If he stayed there he would just pray to stay safe!
