New documentary 'Helderberg' explores South Africa's worst commercial aviation disaster

Just after midnight on November 28, 1987, a tragedy struck the skies over the Indian Ocean, marking a dark chapter in South African aviation history.

South African Airways Flight SA 295, en-route from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, Taipei, Taiwan to the then Jan Smuts International Airport in Johannesburg, vanished from the radar as it was approaching Plaisance Airport in Mauritius.

The flight was nine hours in when it experienced a catastrophic cargo fire mid-flight.

According to reports, the pilots were unable to land the plane due to it being to far over the Indian Ocean. 

Reports also state that as toxic fumes filled the cabin, the crew fought against time to save their passengers.  

The pilots' last contact with air traffic control sparked an immediate emergency declaration but it was too late.

South African faced its worst-ever commercial aviation disaster, claiming the lives of all 159 passengers on board.

The captain of Flight 295 was 49-year-old Dawid Jacobus Uys, a former South African Air Force pilot with 13,843 hours' experience of which 3,884 hours was on the Boeing 747 series airplanes.

The flight crew also consisted of 36-year-old first officer David Attwell and 37-year-old relief first officer Geoffrey Birchall.

Forty-five year-old flight engineer, Giuseppe "Joe" Bellagarda and 34-year-old relief flight engineer, Alan Daniel were also on the plane.

Now, nearly four decades later, the heart-wrenching mystery surrounding the crash of the Boeing 747, famously known as "Helderberg", continues to haunt investigators and families alike. 

M-Net's gripping new documentary series, aptly titled "Helderberg", which is set to air on Thursday, May 15, at 8pm, will delve into the events leading up to the crash as well as the subsequent 37 years of investigations and theories that have followed.

This three-part documentary is produced by Relish Media and IdeaCandy. 

Initial investigations began in the late 1980s, which included the formidable task of retrieving the aircraft's wreckage from a depth of 4,900 metres - greater than that of the Titanic.

An international investigation was launched alongside a local inquiry, yet decades later, numerous private inquiries and dramatic claims have surfaced, including purported death bed confessions and new theories that challenge the very nature of the disaster.

Was it merely a tragic accident, or could it have been the product of treachery?

The local doccie will feature a wealth of insights from a diverse array of voices: from first-hand witnesses to key players in the investigation, including former Department of Civil Aviation lead investigator Rennie van Zyl, forensic scientist Dr David Klatzow, former SAA staff and authors Mark D Young and Steven Webb.

Families of victims, who share in the relentless search for answers, also lend their voices to this immersive narrative.

∎"Helderberg" will be broadcast on M-Net (DStv channel 101) from May 15, at 8pm and will also be available on DStv Catch Up and DStv Stream.