Two Separate Crashes Leave 8 Dead

It was supposed to be a picnic - literally. But a pleasure trip for tourists aboard a National Aircraft Corp. chartered Bell-407 ended in disaster Sunday when officials say it crashed into a mountain. Thick fog is suspected as a factor in the accident.

The Bell 407 (file photo, right) carried a pilot and five passengers who were on their way from Sabie to Graskop when they went down. It took rescue/recovery crews five hours to reach the crash site, according to South African government officials. When they got there, they determined the pilot and passengers probably died on impact and that there seemed to be no evidence of a mechanical failure that might have contributed to the crash.

SU-29 Down Near Kaapsehoop

In a separate accident, South African aerobatic pilot Arrie Meyer (pictured in white shirt, right) and his passenger, Anton Luck, were killed when Meyer's Sukhoi SU-29 slammed into a mountain near the South African town of Kaapsehoop.

Meyer and Luck were returning to Ermelo from the annual air show in Nelspruit, South Africa. André de Kock, a spokesman for The South African Civil Aviation Authority, says there's no indication yet of what caused the accident.

FMI: www.caa.co.za