Five Israeli diamond dealers were killed when their light aircraft crashed in
a residential suburb of Namibia's capital Windhoek Jan. 11, according to media
reports.
The Cessna 210 plane ploughed into a house and set it ablaze while attempting
an emergency landing in which the pilot was also killed, Reuters news service
reports.
Chris Merkling, a director of Lazare Kaplan Africa, told the Reuters that the
men were employed by Lazare Kaplan International, the New York
partners of Namibia diamond cutter Nam-Gem.
Israeli media and Namibian diamond industry officials named the five dead
Israelis as Shlomo Zilberberg, Shmuel Zigdon, Amit Cohen, Ilan Hadadi, and
Avichai Abarov.
Other pilots in the air around Eros Airport said they heard the pilot of the
plane issue a May-day radio call around 1420 GMT on Friday, saying his aircraft
was experiencing turbulence and was rapidly losing altitude, Reuters
reports.
The plane was heading to a private game reserve 375 miles north of
Windhoek, aviation industry officials reportedly said.
Nam-Gem, a joint venture between De Beers and the Namibian government, has
been involved in a joint marketing agreement with Lazare Kaplan International
since 2004, Reuters reports. | 
