Plane crashes in Johannesburg |
8 July 2007 |
On Wednesday evening, the 8th August 2007, a light aircraft crashed into a house in the Johannesburg suburb of Birdhaven (on the corner of Wingfield and Greenaces Avenue); behind the Wanderers cricket stadium. The 2 occupants of the plane, Michael Richards (47) and H Matticks (48) were both seriously injured, with one being trapped in the plane's mangled wreck for some time. According to Johannesburg Emergency Services, the men were on a routine flight from Grand Central to Lanseria Airport when they lost control of the plane around 5.40pm, and the plane crashed into a house and ended up in a tree. The plane was a Piper Seneca twin-engined light aircraft. At the point of impact, the co-pilot was thrown out of the plane and landed on tree logs, while the pilot was trapped in the wreck of the plane. It took emergency workers until 7.15pm to pull the pilot out of the wrecked plane, with his face covered in blood.
"The plane went into the tree. When I went to see what had happened, I saw the one guy on the ground with his knees up and he was trying to make a call on his cellphone. The other guy was trapped in the plane," domestic worker Aletta Olobakeng.
"This is shocking. Thank God he didn't fly into my house." a neighbour.
"It's exciting because it's like history. An aeroplane crashing into a garden? Jeez!" A child viewing the plane wreck.
The family whose house the plane crashed into wouldn't speak to the press, however the daughter identified herself as Yvonne Schneider and said her mom was at home at the time of the crash.
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