‘MASSIVE SHOCK’

TV Chef Dies at 43 in Helicopter Crash

Her co-host said they couldn’t believe the news.

Mynie Steffens, a chef, author and co-host of a South African cooking show, has died in a helicopter crash at age 43. Steffens, a licensed pilot, died when the aircraft she was flying crashed on a farm close to Patensie, South Africa—in the Eastern Cape—on Nov. 10, according to local outlets. She had reportedly been spraying pesticides over a citrus farm’s orange crops when her “helicopter struck power lines and crashed,” the Accidents and Incidents Investigations Division explained in a statement to the George Herald. “The helicopter itself was substantially damaged due to impact force.” Authorities have launched an investigation into the crash, but the South African Police Service has yet to release a comment. Steffens was a co-host of the cooking show Speel met Vuur (Play With Fire) and later released a cookbook called Mynie Plays with Fire. Her co-host and friend from childhood, Aldi Van der Walt, told IOL that Steffens death was a “massive shock” and a “tragic loss.” She explained that Steffens was someone who lived life “to the full” and “could make time for people from every walk of life.”