Africa-Press – Malawi. Families of the victims of the tragic military plane crash that claimed the lives of former Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima and eight others on June 10, 2024, say they need more time to study the just-released final investigation report before commenting on its findings.
Representatives from three of the nine affected families — those of Chilima, former First Lady Patricia Shanil Dzimbiri, and Chilima’s aide-de-camp Chisomo Chimaneni — said they are still reviewing the detailed report. Efforts to get comments from the other six families were unsuccessful.
In an interview, Chilima family spokesperson Dr. Ben Chilima said the family is yet to meet and consult internally before making a formal statement.
“It’s too early for us to comment because it [the report] has just been released and not all of us have read it,” he said. “We would like some time to meet together, read the report, and then consult with the other families as well.”
He did not indicate when that family meeting would take place.
Similarly, Ben Mankhamba, who is the spokesperson for the Dzimbiri family, said he only became aware of the report through the media.
“I was not aware of the final report until this [yesterday] morning when I listened to the radio,” he said. “I don’t know who they [government] communicated with.”
Gladson Chipumphula, uncle to Chimaneni and spokesperson for that family, also asked for time to study the report, stressing that any position would be a collective decision by the entire family.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, Minister of Information and Digitalisation Moses Kunkuyu announced that the families had been briefed on the contents of the report during a meeting held the same day in Lilongwe.
The BFU report concluded that human error was a major contributing factor to the accident. It pointed out that the decision by the flight crew to fly through poor weather conditions with limited visibility led to the aircraft crashing into terrain.
It also highlighted shortcomings in Malawi’s aviation systems, noting that the Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services failed to provide weather information along the planned flight route — a clear violation of International Civil Aviation Organisation standards.
In addition, the report revealed that the aircraft’s emergency locator transmitter was not effective, and initial reports on the plane’s last known position were misleading. These factors significantly delayed search and rescue operations.
The ill-fated Malawi Defence Force Dornier 228 MAFT03 was flying from Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe to Mzuzu Airport en route to Nkhata Bay, where the delegation was expected to attend the burial of former Minister of Justice and Attorney General Ralph Kasambara.
All nine people aboard were killed in the crash at Nthungwa in Viphya Plantation. Apart from Chilima, Dzimbiri, and Chimaneni, the others who perished were:
Lucas Kapheni – Chilima’s guard commander
Dr. Dan Kanyemba – medical officer
Abdul Lapukeni – deputy chief of protocol, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Colonel Owen Sambalopa – pilot-in-command
Major Flora Selemani – second pilot
Major Wales Aidin – aircraft engineer
The families have called for space and understanding as they reflect on the final report before making public comments.
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