Defense minister Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba, commonly known as GBM, has confirmed the death of a Zambia Air Force pilot after a chopper crashed yesterday at City Airport in Lusaka’s Longacres area.
Mwamba said he had spoken to President Michael Sata following the accident who was greatly touched and passed on his condolences to the deceased’s family.
The Kasama lawmaker, who is in Livingstone for campaigns, described the death of a Major Mukupa as a big loss to the country. The accident occurred around 11:00 hours yesterday when the two man crew had completed their routine assignment at the Youth Day Celebrations.
Major Mukupa’s co-pilot, Captain Kenneth Chilala, was admitted to hospital for minor injuries but later discharged.
Mwamba said the deceased’s family had been informed and investigations had since been launched.
The Zambian Watchdog, however, reports that the chopper was brought down by a flag.
“That chopper was descending in readiness for landing. The chopper was one of the three that was used today [Tuesday] at youth day celebration and had a Zambian flag tied to it under its belly.
“Apparently, the flag became loose and entangled the tail/rear rota of the chopper and the rota stopped rotating causing the chopper to crash. The pilot used the parachute to jump out of chopper but was hit with flying pieces from the chopper. The chopper caught fire immediately upon crashing to the ground,” a Zambian Watchdog source says.
This is the third time a helicopter is crash-landing in Zambia within six months. The first one was carrying State House staff who accompanied President sata on a tour of Northern province.
The second one was carrying PF journalists who were being ferried to cover campaigns in Mpongwe. It crash-landed in Kabwe but authorities angrily defended the crash-landing by saying it was not as bad as reported by the private media.
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