A team of South African investigators is expected in Mozambique on Tuesday to work on the aircraft accident with killed six South Africans, according to media reports.

The investigators were expected to work with their Mozambican counterparts to try and determine the cause of the crash which occurred in Beira’s Palmeiras suburb on the Indian Ocean coast on Sunday, the daily Noticias reported.

It took off from Durban.

Head of Mozambique’s civil aviation department Edmundo Chigenge told the paper that the plane’s crew had tried in vain to contact the control tower at Beira International Airport to report an emergency.

Chigenge said the crew made their appeal for help in the last minutes before the crash, which did not give the authorities a chance to respond in time.

This was according to the records of communication between the airport and the crew. The commission of inquiry set up to investigate the cause of the accident would report back within 21 days, Chigenge told the paper.