The captain of a Cessna 201 and its three German passengers were killed in Namibia when the plane crashed in the tourist zone of Sochasflei, the tall, yellowish dunes that attract thousands of visitors each year.
The wreckage of the aircraft was found at around 9.15am this morning. “Unfortunately, there are no survivors,” Desert Air director Willem de Wet announced. The Cessna had been missing since Sunday.
The Shosafley Desert is a tourist site where, among the dunes, stretches a belt of white clay with dead trees, known as the Desfley. Photos of this attraction are on the cover of almost all the country’s tourist guides.
“One of the Cessna 210 aircraft, which had taken off from a private runway near Chosea Kutako International Airport, bound for a lodge in the Shosafley area, did not reach its destination,” the company had earlier announced.
About 110,000 German tourists visited Namibia, a former German colony, in 2024, according to the country’s tourism ministry.
