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INLSA<\/p>\n
The Bell Jet Ranger helicopter which crashed at the Pietermaritzburg Botanic Gardens, with the groom, his parents and brother-in-law aboard. Picture: ER24 EMS<\/p>\n
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Durban – It wasn\u2019t quite the lavish Botanic Garden ceremony they had planned, but hours after the groom survived a helicopter crash, he and his Pietermaritzburg bride were married in a hospital ward in the provincial capital, in the company of 40 guests on Saturday evening. <\/p>\n
In the makeshift venue – complete with flowers and cake – Trinidadian dental surgeon Rishi Ramdeo, 32, and freelance journalist Nerissa Govender, 30, got the opportunity to exchange rings. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe day was almost spoilt but, as a family, we felt we needed to do something to liven the spirits\u2026 It went very well,\u201d the bride\u2019s uncle Poobalan Govindasamy said on Sunday. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are just happy that everyone survived,\u201d he said of the accident. <\/p>\n
Rishi, his parents Vijay and Doy Ramdeo, and brother-in-law Robert Soogram were aboard the Bell Jet Ranger when it plummeted to the ground at the Pietermaritzburg Botanic Gardens, where more than 300 wedding guests awaited their arrival. <\/p>\n
Nerissa had been taken to the venue in a horse-drawn carriage. <\/p>\n
While Rishi and his father were both discharged from the local Medi-Clinic, his mother and Soogram remained there – according to family spokesman Yugusan Govender they had both suffered \u201corthopedic injuries\u201d. <\/p>\n
Apparently 33-year-old Mikael Olson, a highly regarded freelance pilot contracted to King Shaka Aviation, was at the controls of the helicopter which had taken off from Virginia Airport. <\/p>\n
Olson managed to control the helicopter\u2019s descent so that it did not hit road users in the busy Mayors Walk. <\/p>\n
A wedding guest told The Mercury that there was concern for Olson, who seemed to have borne the brunt of the accident. <\/p>\n
Olson was initially taken to St Anne\u2019s Hospital in Pietermaritzburg by paramedics, but was transferred to a Durban hospital later on Saturday evening. <\/p>\n
King Shaka Aviation owner Russell Ashley-Cooper said Olson was bruised and in pain, but in a stable condition. \u201cI saw him and he is doing well,\u201d Ashley-Cooper said. <\/p>\n
The Mercury\u2019s sister paper, the Sunday Tribune, on Sunday quoted a bystander as saying that it sounded as if the helicopter engine had shut off, before it started to spin. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a loud metallic thump as it hit the road. Then it was flung into the (palisade) fence. When the dust had settled, I ran over and the pilot was lying on the floor. The four passengers were still strapped into their seats,\u201d Jon Hanekom had said. <\/p>\n
On Sunday Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Marie Bray said that an investigation would be launched into the cause of the crash. <\/p>\n
She expected to have a preliminary report available by tonight. <\/p>\n
Govender confirmed that the family did not know whether human error or mechanical failure had been the cause. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He said that the newlyweds planned to settle in Trinidad. <\/p>\n
The Mercury<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" INLSA The Bell Jet Ranger helicopter which crashed at the Pietermaritzburg Botanic Gardens, with the groom, his parents and brother-in-law aboard. Picture: ER24 EMS Durban – It wasn\u2019t quite the lavish Botanic Garden ceremony they had planned, but hours after the groom survived a helicopter crash, he and his Pietermaritzburg bride were married in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-18919","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18919\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}