To add to their distress, they have not been given a death certificate. His two phones were still ringing, despite the family being told they were destroyed in the crash and someone has been active on his Facebook account and Skype profiles.

Alfred Ward, 24, was one of four people killed when an E-Med Rescue 24 plane crashed on the Maastricht Wine Farm in Durbanville on Sunday, August 16.

"Sunday, when he passed away, I tried phoning him and the phone was off. Someone charged it and it was ringing yesterday [Sunday]," his girlfriend Tarryn Klaaste said.

"We don’t even have a death certificate. We can’t close his account. Our hands are tied."

On Monday, Ward’s father Terence received an e-mail from Captain Marius Joubert of the Western Cape’s forensic science laboratory, apologising for the delay.

Joubert told him the DNA test results would be available this week; the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had appointed a new investigator to the case and they would receive an update on Tuesday.

"I want my son’s body to bury him. We can’t move on. My wife went back to work, but we are struggling. This thing is hanging over us. We can’t plan."

He questioned why the body had not been released, saying his son had no bearing on the investigation, especially since he had not been flying the plane.

Last week authorities tried to question him about his son’s mental stability, implying that he may have had something to do with the crash.

"Are they sick?" Ward asked.

He said until recently his son’s Skype status was "out of town". On Monday it had been changed to "not available". They had no idea who was using his phone.

The lack of a death certificate means they cannot close his accounts, which are going into arrears. Ward said he had to make a car payment to stop it from being repossessed.

Ward, Gabriel Le Roux, 80, his daughter Charmaine Koortzen, 49, and pilots Steven Naude, 53, and Amore Espag, 23, were killed in the crash. The plane was en route from Oranjemund in Namibia to take Le Roux to a Cape Town hospital after he sustained a head injury in a fall.

IOL reported the plane had been instructed to fly in a holding pattern due to a radar problem. It quoted Air Traffic and Navigation Services saying there had been a "minor technical glitch" which affected departures and arrivals.

CAA spokesperson Phindiwe Gwebu could not be reached for comment.

-News24.com