Five Israeli Diamond Dealers Killed in Plane Crash

The plane was heading for Mashara Lodge, a private game reserve 600 km (375 miles) north of Windhoek.

Five passengers killed when their light aircraft crashed in a residential suburb of Namibia's capital Windhoek on Friday were Israeli diamond dealers, diplomats and police said on Sunday.

The Cessna 210 plane ploughed into a house and set it ablaze while attempting an emergency landing in which the pilot was also killed.

Chris Merkling, a director of Lazare Kaplan Africa, said the men were employed by Lazare Kaplan International, the New York partners of local 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.

Israel's Ambassador to South Africa, Ilan Baruch, who flew to Namibia on Saturday to deal with the incident, said he could not officially confirm the names of the five men.

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.

The plane was heading for Mashara Lodge, a private game reserve 600 km (375 miles) north of Windhoek, aviation industry officials said.

Nam-Gem, a joint venture between international diamond giant De Beers and the Namibian government, has been involved in a joint marketing agreement with Lazare Kaplan International since 2004.