Zinkwazi mother, Meryl Knox has called her son a true hero, who despite being shot twice, continued driving the unarmoured vehicle to ensure he could get his family as far away from the danger as possible.

Knox received the body of her 40-year-old son, Adrian Nel, after the South African Air Force repatriated his body last Wednesday.

The Glenwood father of three was among those killed in what was one of the largest attacks by heavily-armed rebels in northern Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province since they launched an insurgency in the region in 2017.

The Islamic State group (Isis) have claimed responsibility for the attack.

“It is because of Adrian that his brother, father and many others survived.

Also read: North Coast mother loses son in insurgent attack in Mozambique

“The people in the hotel had no weapons for protection and were completely reliant on the air support from DAG (Dyck Advisory Group), the private security group, to hold the insurgents at bay.

“Adi put his life on the line to run out of the compound to retrieve a gun from an abandoned military vehicle in the road, to have some protection if any insurgents breached the compound,” she said.

Knox said the SAAF airplane arrived at King Shaka International airport with the body of her son, accompanied by her husband Greg. Five other South African nationals were also evacuated on the same flight.

The grieving mother said they had to endure a wait of more than 2 hours after police officials received instructions to detain his body for further investigation relating to terrorism.

“The National Prosecuting Authority apologised for the blunder and explained a docket had to be opened in order for the government to investigate the act of terrorism,” said Knox.

She said funeral arrangements for her son, who would have turned 41 on April 1, were still being arranged. He leaves behind his wife and 3 children – a 10-year-old boy, and 2 girls aged 6 and 2.

A commercial diver by trade Nel lost his job as a result of the global pandemic and had been in Mozambique since January 8 to build workers’ accommodation camps for the Total LNG Project, in order to provide for his family.

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) said the SA High Commission in Maputo had “managed to account for a total of 43 South Africans affected by the recent attacks in the north of the country”.

Dirco spokesperson, Clayson Monyela said some of these nationals were already back home while others have been moved to safe areas within Mozambique.

The town of Cabo Delgado is less than 8km’s from a multi-billion dollar gas processing plant being constructed by French oil and gas giant, Total.

The company has reportedly invested billions of dollars in the massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in northern Mozambique, one of several being developed in the country’s extreme north following the offshore discovery of one of the largest natural gas fields in Africa.