15 December 2025

Helderberg S1

Just after midnight on 28 November 1987, Mauritian air traffic control lost contact with South African Airways Flight SA 295, shortly after it had started its approach to the island’s Plaisance Airport, en route from Taipei to Johannesburg. After being unable to reach the plane again, an emergency was declared – but South Africa’s worst-ever commercial aviation disaster had already taken place.

Almost four decades later, mystery still surrounds the exact cause of the fire that saw the Boeing 747, named Helderberg, crash into the Indian Ocean and claim the lives of all 159 passengers and crew aboard. Was it simply an accident – or an act of treachery?

Helderberg is produced by Relish Media and local true-crime pioneers IdeaCandy, the production company behind award winners like Steinheist and Devilsdorp and record-breakers like Tracking Thabo Bester and Rosemary’s Hitlist.

Writing in Daily Maverick, Noelle Adams hailed Helderberg as “a must-watch... slickly made and visually dynamic.”

Watch full episodes

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