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Mynie Steffens -- a cookbook author and cooking show host -- is dead after her helicopter flew into powerlines and crashed into a South African farm ... according to multiple local reports.

The beloved TV chef died Monday ... she was flying the chopper over her own farm and spraying pesticides on her oranges, according to the outlet Cape Argus .

Steffens reportedly flew into powerlines just before 8 AM local time before the helicopter went down ... which ended with the craft "substantially damaged due to impact force," according to the country's Accidents and Incidents Investigations Division.

Steffens rose to prominence on the "Speel Met Vuur" show -- which shares its name with a cookbook she wrote. She cohosted the show with her childhood pal Aldi van de

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