Status:	Final
Date:	13 MAR 1967
Time:	17:10 UTC
Type:	Vickers 818 Viscount
Operator:	South African Airways - SAA
Registration:	ZS-CVA
C/n / msn:	317
First flight:	1958
Engines:	4 Rolls Royce 525 Dart
Crew:	Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 5
Passengers:	Fatalities: 20 / Occupants: 20
Total:	Fatalities: 25 / Occupants: 25
Airplane damage:	Written off
Airplane fate:	Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:	35 km (21.9 mls) off East London, South Africa (Indian Ocean)
Phase:	Approach (APR)
Nature:	Domestic Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport:	Port Elizabeth Airport (PLZ/FAPE), South Africa
Destination airport:	East London Airport (ELS/FAEL), South Africa
Flightnumber:	406

Narrative:
The aircraft (named 'Rietbok') was approaching East London in bad weather. Last report from the aircraft was when the crew reported at 2000 feet with the coastline in sight. The aircraft crashed into the sea one minute later.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "The available data is not sufficient for the originating cause of the accident to be determined with any degree of probability. In the opinion of the Board certain possibilities can be excluded as being consistent with the evidence and/or as being remote and improbable; among these possibilities are structural failure, failure of the controls, or control surfaces, multiple engine failure, instrument failure, explosion, fire, a 'bad weather' accident and pilot error.
However, on the evidence the Board cannot exclude as the originating cause of the accident a heart attack suffered by the captain in the air, with ensuing loss of control of the aircraft, and with the first officer being unable in the time available to regain sufficient control to prevent contact with the sea."
It was later rumored that the aircraft crashed as a result of a structural failure, because comparable accidents happened during that time.

Events:

Sources:
» Rietbok: new evidence (Daily Dispatch, April 20, 2001)