From the Xinhua News Agency:
South African pilot appears in Hunan, mourns over friend
Hunan Province, May 29
Ricky de Agrela, the South African pilot who landed his plane in Wuhan Friday, arrived here Saturday noon to mourn over his deceased friend, who died in Friday's plane crash.
Agrela said he was very sad on hearing the death of his friend, Alan Honeyborne. They were just at the beginning of their 50-country flying trip.
He told Xinhua that he and the Honeyborne family were grateful to see the Chinese people, including officials and ordinary people, were so helpful in the search for his friend.
Agrela said he had to cancel the travel plan and go back to his country and his plane in Wuhan would be shipped back to South Africa after disassembling.
Two planes took off from the southern city of Guilin in Friday morning and were headed to Changsha. Bad weather forced the pilots to divert to Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, but one plane crashed into Dongting Lake in neighboring Hunan Province before it arrived.
Agrela said he lost contact with his friend when they flied northwest of Hunan's capital of Changsha in the morning. The body of a South African pilot was found in the lake close to Miluo City at about 6:30 p.m.
According to Agrela, the two pilots were flying two light planes on a global charity mission, financed by the South African government as part of the activities to mark the 10th anniversary of South Africa's abolishment of apartheid.