Durban — Netcare 911 has looked back at the memorial site commemorating the legacy of those who died when a Netcare 911 emergency helicopter crashed in 2021.
On Thursday, the emergency medical services provider said that on February 23 last year it had unveiled a memorial dedicated to its five front-line heroes who lost their lives when their emergency rescue helicopter crashed near Winterton in KwaZulu-Natal. They were responding to a call to give life-saving care to a Covid-19 patient.
“This memorial, constructed at the crash site, is designed to create a space to honour them, contemplate, reflect, and comfort,” Netcare 911 said.
The memorial was unveiled in a poignant and private ceremony at the crash site.
The victims were anaesthetist Dr Kgopotso Rudolph Mononyane, cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Curnick Siyabonga (Sia), specialist theatre nurse for cardiothoracic and transplant Mpho Xaba, all from Netcare Milpark Hospital, as well as Netcare 911 advanced life support paramedic Sinjin Joshua Farrance and pilot Mark Stoxreiter, who worked for National Airways Corporation.
They were on their way to Hillcrest to transfer a critically ill patient to Netcare Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg for specialised care.
Last year, Netcare said more than 100 family members and close friends from across the country attended the memorial to lay wreaths at the site and speak in memory of their loved ones.
The memorial was a tribute to “legacies of commitment, service, care and healing”.
Artist Marco Cianfanelli, who created the memorial in consultation with the families, explained the significance of the design, which incorporates elements of granite, concrete, earthworks and landscaping, as well as living components of seeded wild grasses and six indigenous wild olive trees.
“Incorporating natural materials and processes, the memorial is intended to be in harmony with the surrounding land, yet resolute in the marking of what has disrupted it. It leaves an indelible scar, to be remembered and not forgotten, with the knowledge that the past lives into the future,” Cianfanelli said.
He said the form of the memorial, set on an expanse of gently sloping farmland, takes one down a concrete path following the helicopter’s flight trajectory on that tragic day “in a ritual of memory, of confronting what has transpired”.
Ahead, the land is excavated in the shape of the African continent, echoing the remarkable and heartrendingly distinctive burn mark left on the veld when the helicopter wreckage set the grass ablaze.
The straight and level path, positioned on the central axis of the site, leads one to the crash-impact site.
“The exact site is marked by a large concrete surface, a flat resilient oval, that has been articulated by long lines radiating from the central axis. The concrete is cut and scarified, forming lines of definition and disruption, but also offering spaces for commemorative trees, benches and granite texts,” described Cianfanelli.
Also part of the memorial are three granite texts which commemorate the lives of those who died in the crash, as well as the 75 Netcare staff and all health-care workers who lost their lives to Covid-19 while serving South Africa on the front lines.
“Framing and holding this commemorative space are two large, grassed banks, shielding the view of surrounding farms, infrastructure and highway to direct one’s gaze inward, creating a sense of focus and quiet, of reflection and meditation.
“Towards the north and the south, distant mountain ranges can be seen, forming a synapse between the past and what lies ahead,” Cianfanelli said.
He added that the act of shaping, seeding and planting was one of healing, of softening hard edges through growth and transformation.
“It is symbolic of life, as the grass will wither in the winter, but in the summer rain will collect in the deep trenches, transforming them into pools of water reflecting the sky and nurturing the land. This is a testament to the lives lived by the fallen, to their legacies of commitment, service, care and healing,” Cianfanelli concluded.
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