'No Swede died in plane crash'

Staff Writer | Wednesday October 19, 2011 00:00

Swedish spokesperson, Abdool Rahim Khan, confirmed that someone had mixed up the two countries - Switzerland and Sweden - and said no Swedish was involved in the accident that claimed eight lives.'The journalist who first wrote about the accident says now that the victims were actually from Switzerland,' Khan said.

He added that the passenger list from the airline that tourists were flying with also confirmed that no Swedish national was on board the aircraft.Late Monday night, local and international media agencies reported that three Swedes were among the victims of a plane crash in Botswana.  At least eight foreigners were killed when their tourist plane crashed after take-off near an airstrip in north Botswana's Okavango Delta on Friday.

The inaccurate reports read that Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana (CAAB) revealed on Monday that three Swedes, two women and a man died in the crash.'They died instantly in the crash.  The airplane slammed into the ground and caught fire.  Emergency crews arrived too late.'

However, CAAB said three Swiss, two French and two Britons died when the Cessna 208 plane crashed and burst into flames on Friday.Out of the nine passengers and two crew members on board, a French couple and two Botswana nationals survived the crash.  The plane, operated by Moremi Air Charters, was heading to the island of Pom Pom, a luxurious safari destination in the north, but crashed soon after take-off.

The French couple, who survived the crash, was airlifted to a hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa, where the couple was treated for burns and other injuries.The respective embassies of the deceased have been notified, said Nkwe.

Meanwhile, Sue Smart, chief executive officer (CEO) of Moremi Air Charters, said the private airline in the Okavango Delta has temporarily grounded its fleet pending investigations. Botswana's Okavango Delta is a high-end tourist destination, popular with foreign visitors. At the time of going to press, CAAB would not shed light on the progress of their investigation into what must rank as one of the country's worst aviation disasters in recent history.