Police pilot hailed as ‘machine’ for saving 68 hikers

Helicopter pilot Florentina Dumbu is being hailed as a ‘machine’ for evacuating 68 hikers who were trapped in a flooded Fish River Canyon in the ||Kharas region on Monday.

Dumbu (37), a police pilot, evacuated hikers over the course of six hours, after heavy rains forced NamWater to release water from the Naute Dam, flooding the canyon.

Survivors say the situation could have been catastrophic had Dumbu not arrived on time.

“There was a woman pilot, she was a machine flying people out before the main flood came,” Dolf de Wet, who was waiting for his guests to be evacuated, told The Namibian yesterday.

De Wet co-owns the White House guest farm, where hikers often stay before and after their Fish River Canyon hike.

“On Saturday night, the two big dams started overflowing. One was overflowing from one side to the other. Sunday morning at 08h00, they opened the sluices [at Naute Dam],” De Wet said.

He said he was on the sidelines, trying to coordinate with his guests and calling for more helicopters to assist.

“I got calls from Swakop, Cape Town, and Mariental [from] people who wanted to send helicopters and wanted to help.