The notorious cliffs at the end of the Port St John’s airstrip have claimed two more lives.
On Tuesday police confirmed there were two bodies in a car which had shot over a line of cliffs ringing Mpembeni mountain into the forest below.
It is thought the accident occured at the weekend.
This is the third vehicle to have plunged off the cliffs in four years.
Pictures posted on Facebook by Eastern Cape government spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo showed a mangled wreck on the forest floor with a VW badge clearly visible.
Police, using an SA National Defence Force helicopter, were attempting to get to the wreck and open it up with the jaws of life on Tuesday, police spokesperson Nozuko Handile said.
She said police on foot had been to the scene but the operation had been called off for the day.
Speaking on Tuesday, Handile said: "It’s a bit difficult at the moment and the jaws of life will have to be used to cut through it. We are lying on our stomachs at the spot (at the airstrip) where, if there is a body, it will be put down by the helicopter, once it’s retrieved from that wreckage."
She said the chopper had landed on the airstrip at 5pm to drop tools, and had left for the wreck scene again.
“The person then went to the police station and alerted the police. The police were able to go to the scene on Monday morning but were unable to do anything.
"We then requested a helicopter from our provincial office to come and assist with the wreck.”
She said they were referred to Port Elizabeth where they were told that it was busy on Monday and the helicopter would only be available on Tuesday.
The latest incident comes two years after the bodies of a couple were found trapped inside the wreckage of their BMW X5 which came to rest 150m below the airstrip in the forest.
The couple was identified as OR Tambo district municipality employee Lusindiso Ali Poyo, 56, and his girlfriend, Ingquza Hill employee Nolwazi Mkhize, 39.
They had disappeared from a lodge they had reportedly booked into for a getaway weekend.
Their vehicle’s wreck was spotted by a health department helicopter at the bottom of the cliff.
The Daily Dispatch reported that the couple had left the lodge on the day they were scheduled to check out, but had left all their luggage and possessions behind.
Autopsies ruled out any foul play.
In 2016 emergency medical services, SANDF and police rescue teams laboured for hours to retrieve the body of a 60-year-old man who died when he lost control of his car and plunged about 200m down a cliff.
The man was taking driving lessons, and his teachers, apparently confident that his skills had improved, let him drive alone.
PSJ mayor Nomvuzo Mlombile-Cingo expressed concern at the repeated incidents of cars driving off the cliff.
Mlombile-Cingo said they had held an urgent meeting as the troika of the municipality with the airstrip top of the agenda.
“We will be going there with our engineers on Wednesday to see if we can't put down any boulders to prevent people from going there.
"We will also take this matter to council so that we can make a decision on it.”
The mayor described the airstrip as a tourism hotspot which was frequented by people as it gave them a better view of Port St Johns town.
She said the boulders would be an interim solution to the issue.
They wanted the provincial transport department to assist with making the airstrip operational again.
Small planes do use the strip, but it is not monitored, has no fence and is built in the midst of grazing land.
“What is happening there is really really bad,” she said.
Handile said the wreck was spotted at the bottom of the cliff by a man who was digging for traditional herbs on Sunday...