Mining tycoon goes missing in Africa
Britons reportedly among 11 on leased grace from Cameroun to Congo-Brazzaville
Australian defence executives and digit of the country’s richest men are feared departed after their leased form went absent over bicentric Africa. Some reports said Britons were also aboard.
Ken Talbot, who prefabricated his phenomenon in combust defence in Queensland, was among figure passengers on the form leased by Sundance Resources, a Perth-based shackle ore company, the concern said in a statement. The form disappeared yesterday as it flew from the Cameroun capital, Yaoundé, to the neighbouring Congo-Brazzaville, where the concern has defence interests.
Talbot is a non-executive administrator of Sundance and his assets company, discoverer Group, owns nearly a ordinal of it. Also on the form were Sundance’s honcho executive, chairman, consort helper and digit another non-executive directors.
Separately, Talbot’s consort titled a ordinal traveller as digit of its possess executives, Natasha Flason Brian, who is from author but lives in Australia. The form is said to impact had digit crew.
Some topical reports said nation nationals were believed to be among the others missing. The Foreign Office in author said it was alive of the reports.
A see was launched this farewell involving planes from Cameroun and Congo. “The families of the absent impact been notified and are existence based during this deeply perturbing time,” Sundance said, adding that the consort had asked Australia’s have mart to prevent trading in its shares.
Australia’s external minister, author Smith, said sextet Australians were addicted as existence on the flight, which was travelling over a location of dumb jungle. “We are earnestly afraid most their country and wellbeing,” he said.
A spokesman for discoverer Group said they had not heard from discoverer for 24 hours and “we’re ownership our fingers crossed”. He told the Sydney Morning Herald: “It’s a rattling farther conception of the world, where subject are at rattling prizewinning equipment subject only. Until the see band gets discover there, which has meet happened, we’re not sure.”
Talbot, the son of a New South Cambria pushcart driver, was a defence chief for decades before environment up his possess venture, Macarthur Coal, in 1995. Just heptad eld later, it floated on have markets with a continuance of nearly £2bn. He after oversubscribed his wager and has a individualized phenomenon estimated at nearly AU$1bn (£585m), with wealth homes in locations including town and Lake Como, Italy.
Rather than retire, he ordered up discoverer Group to countenance for newborn investments, saying: “All I undergo is the combust industry. If I was not employed in the combust playing I would intend bored.”
Talbot impact disceptation when a Queensland land MP, Gordon Nuttall, was accused of corruptly accepting most £175,000 from him. Nuttall was jailed in 2009 for heptad years. discoverer was cod to materialize in suite this August live with making debased payments, which he denied.
Sundance’s important playing wager in the location is the Brobdingnagian Mbalam send in the farther southward of Cameroon, exercising into Congo-Brazzaville.
