Three Die in Delta Tragedy. (6 September, 1996)

Maun was plunged into mourning last week after three well-loved residents were killed in a plane crash near Santandadibe while carrying out an aerial survey of the local elephant and buffalo population. British born pilot Allistair Torr, his American partner Marcia Miller, and fellow Brit Struan Andrews were killed when their plane crashed on August 26.

The Director of Civil Aviation, K. Mosupukwa, told the Okavango Observer that no distress signal was heard by anyone in the area and the cause of the accident is still under investigation.

The group left Santandadibe at 4pm last Monday in a two-seater Austin J-5 taildragger. Lee Montgomery, a pilot with Delta Air, says he spoke to Torr at about 5:30pm at which point Torr was following the Boro River at about 4 000 feet.

'He seemed to be heading for Nxaraga lagoon and everything seemed fine,' says Montgomery.

However, early the next morning Grant Truter called Ensign Agencies to raise the alarm after the plane had not returned to Maun.

Ensign then alerted Civil Aviation, the Botswana Defence Forece, Medical Rescue International and various private air charter companies to set up a search and rescue mission. The aircraft wreckage was found around lunchtime that day near the Santandadibe airstrip and there were no survivors.

Maun friends and residents are appalled at the tragic loss of such young and talented people. Torr, a 26-year old independent wildlife researcher, had just won a tender to conduct a wildlife survey in the Delta. He was due to pick up a plane in South Africa this week specially for the purpose.

Andrews (28) was just about to begin a research project on the effects of hippos on Delta channels, while Miller (24) was on the verge of submitting a children's book.

'They were three very special people,' says Mandi Sandenbergh who was due to meet with Miller three days after the crash to discuss the book project. Torr, born in Canada, and Andrews, from the Sicilly Isles, first met at Swansea University in the UK wehre they shared a house. In 1990 Torr came to Botswana and the following year worked for three months at Birds and Game in Francistown.

In 1992 he came back having finished university and began working full-time. Torr built Jacks Camp in the Makgadikgadi from scratch, explains Catherine Raphaely of Birds and Game. Andrews, who had been travelling through Africa, joined him and they worked together at Lazy J and Jack's for a couple of years.

Andrews later came to Maun where he worked at Oddballs. 'Allistair was an incredibly motivated and dynamic young man,' says Raphaely. 'He was a high achiever, very charismatic and smart.

Struan was intelligent, down to earth, wry and dry, very responsible and loyal. They were both incredibly good to us at a time when things were hard. It's a great loss.'

The memorial service is still to be arranged.

The crash was the third plane accident in the Delta this year. On February 2 pilot Michael Brinkcate escaped with minor injuries after his plane crashed near Khwai.

Then in March an American passenger was killed in a plane on route from Kasane. Courtesy of The Okavango Observer.