02/08/2001 09:15  - (SA)	E-mail story to a friend

Philip de Bruin

Johannesburg - A document with crucial information about the final hours of the Helderberg, which crashed into the sea in 1987 off the Mauritius coast killing everyone on board, could have been forged or deliberately changed. This has emerged from documentation released by Civil Aviation Authority Director Trevor Abrahams.

"If the alleged forgery can be proven, then all information submitted to the Margo Commission at the time regarding conversations between the Helderberg and Mauritian ground air control stations is under suspicion," said Mark Whale of the Scorpions after he was presented with the document.

Whale is conducting a probe into the disaster on instruction from the National Prosecution Authority.

The document involved maps and the time and frequency of Helderberg Captain Dawie Uys's contact with air control ahead of the crash.

Prior to the Margo Commission, evidence suggested that contact was made with a ground station at 23:13 and again at 23:48 with the control tower at the airport in Mauritius, when Uys informed them that he was initiating an emergency landing.

However, the new document, released by Abrahams about two months ago, reveals that there was never a contact conversation at 23:13. Abrahams's document did, however, state that there had been contact with Mauritius at 23:32.

Aviation experts point out, and Whale confirms, that the flight recorder of an aircraft runs for thirty minutes before automatically recording from the start again if nothing is said in the preceding 30 minutes.

A person or persons could, therefore, deliberately register the contact time as 23:13, creating a false impression to the Margo Commission that more than thirty minutes had lapsed between the 23:13 contact period and the last contact at 23:48.

The commission would, therefore, get the impression that the 23:32 contact had never taken place.

Uys's report to Mauritius at 23:32 could have been of such interest that a person or persons deemed it necessary to withhold the information from the Margo Commission.

Whale added: "If the contact times had been interfered with intentionally, it renders under suspicion all other versions of conversations submitted to the Margo Commission that Captain Uys made on the night."

Abrahams failed to respond to several Beeld enquiries seeking clarity over the contact times.

However, he did say to Neels van Wyk, who is conducting an independent inquiry into the Helderberg in the US, that the 23:32 contact time on his document had been secured from an unscrambled tape used in the control tower at Mauritius on the night of the crash.

He added that he believed the unscrambled tape of the last conversations captured on the Helderberg flight recorder (as submitted to the Margo Commission) had not been made in the last 30 minutes of the flight.

Abrahams's document and his statement regarding the flight recorder is important as it gives impetus to the theory that the fire had started much earlier (than the Margo Commission found) and that Uys had flown to Mauritius under threats and coercion from Johannesburg, even though he could have safely landed elsewhere.

09/05/2001 23:19  - (SA)	E-mail story to a friend

Philip de Bruin

Related Articles 'Suspicions not enough' - Omar

Johannesburg - Beeld has succeeded in tracing a key witness in the Helderberg air tragedy after nearly 14 years who, as he puts it, "for some or other unthinkable reason" was never asked to testify before the Margo Commission of enquiry into the disaster.

Captain John Snelgras, a former South African Airways pilot, was in the control tower in Mauritius during the time of the accident and followed every conversation with Helderberg pilot Captain Dawie Uys until communication was broken and the flaming aircraft plunged into the sea off the coast of Mauritius.

Snelgras was in fact the last South African to speak personally to Uys before he and all the passengers on board died.

Beeld obtained a statement from Snelgras through a contact in America. His contact details have already been given to Mark Whale, of the Scorpions, who is investigating the disaster with Advocate John Welch to report to Minister of Transport Dullah Omar.

'Key witness' who was never questioned

Welch described Snelgras as someone who "could be a key witness who was never questioned by the previous investigating team".

It appears from Snelgras's statement that the Mauritian transcription of conversations with the Helderberg was now under suspicion because none of his communications with Uys had been transcribed. Instead of the eight minutes' duration of the communication, there was a deathly silence on the transcription.

Snelgras said he "had no intention of talking to the media or individuals who could not guarantee that his statement would be correctly quoted". He was also determined that the "motivation" for discussion with him should be clearly spelled out.

"Yes, I was in the tower [in Mauritius] during the tragedy, where I tried to help the captain [Dawie Uys]. I was also the first person who listened to the tapes of the air traffic control centre on Mauritius with the purpose of establishing exactly the position of the Helderberg when first contact was made.

"I also participated in the search-and-rescue expedition after the disaster.

'I have no idea why I was never called'

"I have no idea why I was never called to present important evidence to the Margo Commission. I even had a few theories about the disaster which I thought should have been placed before the commission.

"Apart from the important information that was withheld from the Margo Commission, I could have made a big contribution in regard to flying accidents in general and the risks involved.

"I would also have been able to make a contribution (in terms of what happened to the Helderberg) of information about safety measures when fires occur for whatever reason," said Snelgras.

Snelgras has not yet released information about the content of his last communication with Uys and especially on what Uys said to him in connection with the cargo that the Helderberg was transporting.

Whale said on Wednesday that apart from a statement from Snelgras, it was absolutely essential to obtain another statement from Uys's widow, Jana Uys, "because she is obviously in possession of certain information".

He would obtain both statements as soon as possible so that they could be included in the report that must be handed to Omar by the end of this month. - Beeld

01/05/2001 17:44  - (SA)	E-mail story to a friend

Philip de Bruin

Johannesburg - Family members of people who died during the 1987 Helderberg aircraft disaster believe the Minister of Transport, Dullah Omar, will not re-open the investigation.

This follows approaches by senior officials of Civil Aviation - under instruction from minister Omar – to inform them that Omar wants to have a private discussion with them before he makes his announcement on the re-opening of the investigation.

One of the family members contacted in this way, Craig Seales from Cape Town, said as far as he and other family members were concerned, they would be satisfied with "nothing less than a new, official investigation", and the latest move by Omar was "as transparent as glass".

"Mr Omar knows only too well what our point of view is.

"A mass of new information has come to light that indicates that the Helderberg tragedy was no ordinary incident. We want the investigation re-opened.

"Now he wants to talk to us privately before making his announcement, and that means one thing - he is not going to re-open the investigation and wants to soft-soap us before the news is announced in the media."

'No ulterior motives for meeting'

Omar's spokesperson Mike Babaso denied that Omar had ulterior motives for his planned meeting with the families.

"This is a very sensitive matter and Mr Omar would like to communicate personally with the family and not through the media."

Asked if that indicated that a decision had been taken not to re-open the investigation - in spite of the fact that the official investigation had still not been completed - Mabaso said it would be "speculation" to guess what Omar wanted to say to the families.

In another development, Mark Whale of the Scorpions, who is assisting Advocate John Welch with the inquiry which will advise Omar on the re-opening of the investigation, said a report was being prepared and would soon be presented to Omar.

'There is still investigative work to do'

"No, our work is not done. In the report it will be mentioned that there is still investigative work to do. It depends however on the Minister whether he is going to order us to stop or to continue."

Whale also confirmed that no statement had yet been taken from Jana Uys, wife of the Helderberg pilot Captain Dawie Uys.

Although the American FBI confirmed the deciphering of the Helderberg's flight recorder by an American forensic expert, Jack Mitchell, the flight recorder was then given to the SABC to decipher.

A spokesperson from the SABC's studios confirmed on Tuesday that the equipment used for that purpose was already ten years old. The equipment used by the FBI and Mitchell uses the most modern technology of its kind in the world. - Beeld