Five passengers died Tuesday afternoon after their mini aircraft crashed at Rand Airport, Germiston in Ekurhuleni.
Disaster and Emergency Management Services (DEMS) said they received the call around 3 pm alerting them of the incident.
“Five people who were passengers were declared deceased on scene by paramedics while the only pilot sustained critical injuries and was airlifted to the nearest hospital for further medical care,” said the DEMS in a terse statement.
“It is alleged that the aircraft experienced challenges just after taking off and crashed down on the runway.”
Aviation Authorities (AA) were on the scene to conduct investigations into the cause of the crash.
It has since been established that the ill-fated flight was carrying South Africa Police Service members.


