The crash site
* The investigators verbally briefed both the bereaved family and the Government about what they had recovered from the wreckage of the plane
* This verbal briefing is what some are mistakenly referring to as a report, but no report was submitted — it was merely a verbal briefing to inform the bereaved family
Maravi Express
Minister of Information & Digitalisation, Moses Kunkuyu, who is chief government spokesperson informs the public that the Germany’s Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (BFU), which is investigating the cause of the plane crash that claimed the life of late Vice-President Saulos Chilima and eight others on June 10, will publish its interim report on its website on Friday, August 30.
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Kunkuyu says the investigators have communicated this to the Government while indicating that their investigations were still ongoing. “In the days after the plane crash, the Bureau conducted an inspection of the crash site, the wreckage of the plane, the aerodromes of the departure and destination airports, and the home base of the aircraft in Zomba,” says Kunkuyu in the public statement.
“They also interviewed various officials within the aviation authority. Once these inspections were done, the investigators verbally briefed both the bereaved family and the Government about what they had recovered from the wreckage of the plane.
“This verbal briefing is what some are mistakenly referring to as a report, but no report was submitted — it was merely a verbal briefing to inform the bereaved family and the Government that the Bureau had recovered a Global Positioning System from the wreckage, and that they were taking the GPS back to their lab for comprehensive analysis, along with their analysis of the departure and destination aerodromes, which they had also inspected.
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“It should be noted that the Bureau published the contents of the briefing on its website on 11th July 2024. The investigators had mentioned in this briefing to the bereaved family and the Government that once their laboratory analysis in Germany is done, which they said would take some time, the Bureau would produce a report and release it to the public directly through their website to certify and safeguard the independence of the Bureau’s findings about what caused the plane crash.”
The statement further says President Lazarus Chakwera told German media house Deutsche Welle (DW) in an interview that the Government “will alert the public as soon as the Bureau informs the relevant Government offices that the report has been published”.
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“Meanwhile, the public may also wish to know that a separate investigation focusing on when and how the passengers on board died was done by a laboratory in Blantyre at the request of the bereaved family, and the final autopsy report on this was released to the bereaved family in June 2024.
“Government is hopeful that the bereaved family will also release this autopsy report to the public at the earliest convenience should they deem it necessary,” Kunkuyu said.
There was also another tragic plane crash last week into Lake Malawi near Benga in Nkhotakota District in which two foreign nationals were killed while one survived.
The deceased were identified as 50-year-old Fungay Jonathan, a Zimbabwean who was the pilot and Frisco Westheim (29) of Dutch origin and the survivor, who was rescued by fishermen who witnessed the plane crashing, identified as Charlotte Lemstra (22) — also of Dutch origin.
The two went down together with the plane after Lemstra had managed to get out of the plane and the fishermen found her on the roof of the plane. The plane hours later was then pulled ashore which confirmed the two being dead. the lake and brought to the beach.
Cause of the accident is yet to be released but soon after reports of the plane crash Minister Kunkuyu also issued a statement that the plane was a C210 type aircraft registration number 7QPFU.
The Minister said the aircraft was departing from Nkhotakota to Makhanga in Liwonde and was reported to have departed Nkhotakota Tongole at 14h00 and was supposed to land Makhanga at 15h15.
Another statement from operators of the aircraft, Nyassa Express indicated that it was a private charter flight, 7Q-PFU (Cessna C210).
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