Two die in U’hage chopper crash

Flight in gyrocopter to locate helipad for weekend festival ends in tragedy

TWO Nelson Mandela Bay men suffered horrific deaths yesterday when their small helicopter crashed into dense bush and burst into flames near the boundary of the Uitenhage Airfield.

Emergency workers had to use heavy earth-moving equipment to carve a road through the thick scrub to reach the crash site after the two-seater gyrocopter the men were flying in suddenly crashed at about 1.30pm.

The wreckage was strewn over a small area.

The crash, which occurred at the top of a narrow valley between Kwa-Nobuhle and the airfield, came just days before the start of the Wings & Wheels festival which takes place there from tomorrow.

-Shaun Gillham and Gareth Wilson