Madagascar minister swims for 12 hours and survives helicopter crash

‘It’s not time to die for me yet’, Serge Gilly declared, in a video posted on social media, looking exhausted and lying in a lounge chair.

Photo montage / reproduction / Twitter / @MDN_MadagascarSerge Gill needed to swim 12 hours to survive a helicopter crash in Madagascar

or general Serge GilMinister of State for Police Madagascar, a survivor of a helicopter crash off the northeastern coast of the Big African island. To do this, the minister had to swim for about 12 hours to reach land, Madagascar authorities reported. According to the head of the country’s port authority, Jean-Edmond Randrianantina, he and a colleague from one of the institutions reached shore after jumping from the plane, on Tuesday afternoon, 21. In a video posted to social media, Jill, 57, looks exhausted in a lounge chair, still in his camouflage uniform. “It is not time for me to die,” declared the general, adding that he felt cold but was uninjured. Gill became a minister last August as part of a cabinet reshuffle after three decades of service in the police. The helicopter was carrying him with other authorities to inspect the site where a ship sank on Monday off the northeastern coast of the island nation. At least 21 people were killed and another 60 were reported missing in the disaster, according to the latest official tally, on Tuesday.

♦ GDI Serge GELLE, one of the passengers of the helicopter that crashed yesterday, was found safe and sound this morning near Mahambo.
☑️ Rescuers at #4° UPC also found the wreckage of the helicopter on the sea floor. pic.twitter.com/sP2abwTMwB

– Ministry of National Defense of Madagascar (MDN_Madagascar) December 21, 2021

*With information from Agence France-Presse