Television host and chef Mynie Steffen has died aged 43 after being involved in a helicopter crash in South Africa. Tributes are now pouring in.
On Monday, November 10, Steffens was flying a helicopter that crashed on a citrus farm outside the town of Patensie in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Pictures on social media showed the helicopter crashing into a patch of grass at the farm, with pieces of its exterior missing. She was 43.
Per local authorities, she struck a power line before crashing.
“Information that is at our disposal indicates that the pilot was conducting a pest control operation flight when the helicopter struck power lines and crashed,” the AIID said in a statement obtained by the newspaper George Herald. “The helicopter itself was substantially damaged due to impact force.”
TV chef Mynie Steffens dead at 43
Steffens was the presenter of the cooking show Speel met Vuur, which means Play With Fire in Afrikaans. After the tragic incident, tributes have poured in. Her co-host, Aldi Van Der Walt, told George Herald that Steffens “had a big heart, gentle soul, the glue that kept people together.”
“Mynie lived life to the full,” Van Der Walt told George Herals.
Steffens and Aldi Van Der Walt had known each other from high school. After 16 years apart, they reconnected and started the VIA TV show. Van der Walt added that it was a “massive shock.”
“She was always full of ideas that had transformed into successful endeavours, and then executing that with success, winning over people as she went along,” Van der Walt said of her late friend and co-host. “She could make time for people from every walk of life, and that was her priority.”
Approached life “with curiosity and bravery”
VIA TV also issued a statement, writing on Facebook: “Rest in peace, Mynie Steffens. You were adventurous until the end. With Play With Fire, you showed us all how to approach life with curiosity and bravery. Sleep softly.”
Besides television, Mynie Steffens also penned the cookbook Mynie Plays with Fire in 2021, filled with South African barbecue recipes cooked over an open fire. On social media, she frequently posted videos of flying in her helicopter.
