SA pilots were sitting ducks - report

Johannesburg - A Johannesburg helicopter pilot quit a job in Kabul, Afghanistan, recently out of fear for his safety, according to a report on Wednesday.

Eight South Africans, who were working for a private aviation company, were killed in a suicide bomb attack in Kabul on Tuesday.

“They were sitting ducks,” pilot Clint Buckman told The New Age newspaper.

He quit a similar job in Kabul “after a week” because he realised it was “too dangerous”.

But the job paid well, he said.

“The guys earn at least $850 (about R7 000) a day up there, but life is cheap and it is too dangerous to work there…

“We have to fly 500 feet above the ground while the American gunships cruise at the safe level of 5 000 feet,” said Buckman.

The helicopter pilots, engineers and operations personnel were ferried to and from the airport and were “sitting ducks for attacks”, he said.

“These pilots fly charter choppers with supplies, logistics and emergency supplies for various contractors in Afghanistan.”

- Sapa/IOL

Vlieënier ontkom toe hy plek in bussie opgee

KAAPSTAD. – ’n Kaapse vlieënier het die bomaanval gister in Kaboel ontsnap omdat hy sy plek in die gedoemde bussie vir iemand anders gegee het.

“Ons het ’n bom hier gehad, maar ek is oukei,” het David Relnic (31) van Durbanville gister omtrent 07:00 aan sy pa, Robert, oor die telefoon gesê.

Veel meer kon sy seun nie sê nie.

“Hy het gesê dat hy nie daaroor mag praat nie. Die voorval word nog ondersoek,” het Robert Relnic gesê.

Hy het gesê hy is dankbaar dat sy seun nog leef, maar is steeds senuweeagtig.

“Ek is steeds nie seker of David beseer is nie – hy wil nie veel sê nie. Hy is geweldig getraumatiseer, maar dit is te verstane aangesien hy gesien het hoe sy vriende opgeblaas word.”

Relnic jr., wat al twee jaar vir ACS Balmoral as vlieënier in die Midde-Ooste werk, het volgens EWN vir sy pa gesê hy voel skuldig oor wat met sy kollegas en vriende gebeur het.

Hy het volgens sy pa in ’n ander bus oorgeklim omdat die eerste te vol was – enkele minute voordat die selfmoordaanvaller teen die eerste bussie vasgejaag het.

David kom volgens sy pa volgende Saterdag terug huis toe.

- Volksblad

Condolences and Sympathies to the families and friends who lost loved one's in the Kabul attack this morning.

SAWDOS extends its deepest sympathies to the families and friends who lost loved one's in a suicide bomb attack in Kabul this morning. 8 Innocent  South Africans died as a result. Crazy world we living in!!

 - SAWDOS

South Africa trying to contact families after Kabul blast

Forensic personnel cover a body at the site of a suicide bomb attack in Kabul September 18, 2012. Afghan insurgent group Hezb-e-Islami claimed responsibility on Tuesday for the suicide bomb attack on a minivan carrying foreign workers that killed 12 people saying it was retaliation for a film mocking the Prophet Mohammad. Image by: MOHAMMAD ISMAIL / REUTERS

South Africa's international relations and co-operation department has received the names of the eight South Africans killed in a suicide attack in Afghanistan on Tuesday morning.

"We have received the names of the deceased and are working on establishing contact with families and next-of-kin," said spokesman Nelson Kgwete.

"They worked for a private aviation company operating in the country."

The SA High Commission in Islamabad, Pakistan, was informed on Tuesday morning that eight South Africans were killed in the attack.

Kgwete said the department expressed its condolences to the friends and families of the deceased and that they would be given assistance.

- TIMES LIVE

VIDEO: KABUL SUICIDE ATTACK

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT!!!

- ToloNews

Images: Afghan Suicide Bom - 8 South Africans Killed

Images: AFP (Click on images for larger view.)

South Africans killed in Kabul blast

Afghanistan police and officials investigate the site of a suicide attack in Kabul. A suicide bomber blew himself up alongside a minivan carrying foreigners on a major highway leading to the international airport in the Afghan capital. (Massoud Hossaini, AFP)

Pretoria - Eight South Africans died in a suicide bomb attack which killed 12 in Kabul in Afghanistan on Tuesday morning, the department of international relations and co-operation has confirmed.

"Our mission in Islamabad in Pakistan, which is also accredited in Afghanistan, has informed us that eight South Africans were among the dead in the explosion which occurred in Kabul early this morning," foreign affairs spokesperson Nelson Kgwete told AFP.

"They worked for a private aviation company," he added.

The group were all believed to be men, Kgwete said.

"Our mission in Islamabad is working on the identity of the men and contacting their next of kin."

Tuesday's attack by a woman suicide bomber was the deadliest single attack claimed to avenge a US film that has sparked a week of bloody protests across the Muslim world.

More than 30 people have now been killed in the violent backlash over a YouTube trailer for the film Innocence of Muslims.

- AFP/News24