A plane crash claimed the lives of five Israeli diamond dealers on Saturday outside the Namibian capital of Windhoek.
Four of the five victims have been identified by various news sources as: Shlomo Zilberberg, Amit Cohen, Ilan Adadi and Shmuel Zigdon.
The fifth victim, whose name was spelled various ways in different press reports, was identified by the the Israeli Diamond Industry as Avihai Abrov.
The victims were headed to Mashara Lodge, a private game reserve north of Windhoek, when the Cessna 210 they were traveling in crashed into a house and caught fire.
News reports stated that at the time of the crash, the pilot was attempting an emergency landing after issuing a Mayday call that his aircraft had hit turbulence and was rapidly losing altitude.
The pilot also perished in the crash.
Chris Merkling, a director of Lazare Kaplan Africa, told news sources that the five victims worked for Lazare Kaplan International, the New York partners of local diamond cutter Nam-Gem.
Nam-Gem is the joint venture between De Beers and the Namibian government.
Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) President Avi Paz said in a statement that the IDE mourns the loss of the five victims and offers sympathies to their families.
"From the moment that we learned of the terrible tragedy, we have maintained constant contact with the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the bereaved families. We will continue to offer them our assistance," he said.
Source: nationaljewelernetwork
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