Light plane photo illustration
Photo: Tomriko
Lev Leviev
Photo: Tzvika Tishler
5 Israelis killed in Namibia-diamond execs on business trip
Owner of Ramat Gan diamond company, four members of management team, charter plane for Namibian Safari trip. Plane crashes near capital Windhoek
The five Israelis killed in a Namibian plane crash Friday were
executives in an Israeli
diamond company on a business trip to the African country. One of the individuals in question was the owner of the company, and the other four were members of the company’s management team.
The five executives, who worked out of the Ramat Gan Diamond Exchange and also owned numerous diamond mines and polishing compounds in Namibia, chartered a plane for a Safari trip in the African country Friday afternoon.
African Tragedy
Light plane crashes into home near Namibian capital Friday afternoon, killing six people; Israeli officials arrive at crash site Saturday, five Israeli passports found at scene; Efforts underway to identify bodies
Their “Cessna 210” aircraft attempted to make an emergency landing, but crashed near the capital Windhoek shortly thereafter. Police investigators reported that the plane crashed into a local residence roughly five minutes after takeoff. The pilot was also killed in the crash along with the five diamond merchants.
The names of those killed in the crash are known only to the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the Israeli Embassy in South Africa. The five Israelis confirmed to have been aboard the light plane, and have officially been declared missing, are Shlomo Zilberberg, the owner of the diamond company, Shmuel Zigdon of Moshav Porat, Amit Cohen, a Netanya resident married only three months ago, Ilan Hadadi, also of Netanya, and Avichai Abarov.
An Israeli team will likely be dispatched to Namibia in order to assist in identifying the deceased. Officials told Ynet that the task of identifying the victims is very complex seeing as the plane disintegrated completely. Israel's Ambassador to South Africa, Ilan Baruch, arrived at the crash scene Saturday morning along with Israeli Consul Sharon Dadon.
Namibia has always been a hub for the diamond industry. The Israeli merchants involved in the crash were part of a relatively small diamond company, one of nine Israeli companies operating in the region.
The most prominent diamond merchant operating out of Namibia is billionaire Lev Leviev, who was recently given a grant to mine $ 3 billion worth of diamonds off the Namibian coast. Most Israel companies in the region operate on a far more modest scale, and own both mines and polishing compounds situated in the south-African country.
Namibia: An African diamond hub
Namibia is a world leader in the diamond mining industry. Along with Botswana, South Africa and Zaire it is now one of four top African countries in terms of diamond production. This after the diamond trade in Angola and Sierra Leona was severely impaired by the prominent role that so called “blood diamonds” played in the civil wars raging in these African countries.
Israeli companies were always sensitive to the marked ethical concern surrounding these so called “conflict diamonds” or “blood diamonds” used to fund the civil wars raging in Angola and Sierra Leona. They were among the first to halt diamond mining in these countries, and to move their businesses to other south-African countries such as Namibia and Botswana.
Blood diamonds and other ethical concerns aside, Namibia is also attractive to Israeli diamond companies seeing as it is relatively politically stable and open to foreign entrepreneurship. There are no special security concern for Israelis working in the region, and the country welcomes Israeli businesses who employee thousands of local workers.
Neta Sela contributed to this article
