Search teams trace missing pilot’s iPhone signal in the Lebombo mountains
Poor weather and rugged terrain are slowing efforts to locate missing pilot Johann Marx despite teams tracing his phone's signal.
The search for Johann Marx, the pilot of a missing Cessna 206, continued yesterday in heavy mist and winds.
According to Lowvelder, search-and-rescue teams managed to locate a signal from Marx’s iPhone, believed to be somewhere among the Lebombo mountains near the Barberton Makhonjwa World Heritage Site.
Search and Rescue South Africa, the Ehlanzeni Diving Unit and the K9 Police Unit searched on foot and by car. After identifying an initial 4.6km search radius, teams were able to narrow down the field of operations to a 1km radius.
“The terrain is making it hard to try and find him without using a chopper or a drone due to the heavy mist,” Captain Pottie Potgieter from the Ehlanzeni Diving Unit shares.
The pilot has not been found yet and the teams will continue their search today.
Marx was flying to Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport when his aircraft lost signal and was reported missing.
It departed from King Mswati III International Airport in Eswatini at 13:23 and lost signal at 13:37.
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