By Pemphero Malimba & Wezzi Gausi:
‘Eye witness’ Flora Mkandawire told the Parliamentary Ad hoc Committee that is investigating the Chikangawa-Nthungwa Forest Plane Crash that community members reported the plane crash to Police in Mzuzu at around 11am on the day of the incident on June 10, 2024.
Mkandawire said this when she appeared before committee members at Parliament Building in Lilongwe yesterday.
She said the incident happened about four hours after she returned from the forest, where she had gone to fetch firewood in the morning of the incident.
She said after hearing the sound of the plane crashing, she met with Nthungwa Primary School head teacher, a Mr Mwalwanda, who called police in Mzuzu and informed them about the incident.
- Advertisement -
“Through the phone, a female police officer assured us that she would alert others of the incident,” she said.
She said at the time of the incident, the two did not have contact numbers for Chikangawa Forest Police officers.
‘That is why we called police officers in Mzuzu,” Mkandawire said.
She said the two and other community members, who were also aware of the incident, did not check the scene of the incident.
- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -
“We were waiting for the police to arrive at the scene of the incident. It was also difficult to check the scene of the incident because some soldiers chased me away from the forest [when I went to collect firewood before the accident occurred],” she said.
She said a few hours before the crash in the morning of the day of the incident, two soldiers chased her way from the forest, saying she could not collect firewood as it was illegal.
Mkandawire, however, said the soldiers did not carry any weapon at the time she was meeting them.
She estimated that the plane hovered in one place for about three minutes while in transit.
“The aeroplane was flying some few metres above [me], the height of an electricity pole, while its tyres were unfurled, showing readiness to land,” she said.
“The incident happened while the plane was still flying. It did not land at any point,” she said.
She said she was surprised to hear that police officers started a search and rescue mission a few hours after their reporting.
Mkandawire said she failed to testify during previous investigations due to fear.
“Two days after the incident, police officers snatched my two children to force me to come out of hiding so that I could provide information about the incident. Out of fear for my children’s lives, I changed my testimony and said that I didn’t hear the plane crashing so that I should have peace,” she said.
The committee’s vice chairperson, James Mpunga, said the committee was happy to hear that community members reported the incident to the authorities for action.
The committee’s chairperson, Walter Nyamilandu, concurred with Mpunga.
“Mrs Mkandawire is the first woman from Nthungwa to come forward to testify in the investigations. We are glad that you have revealed new information that soldiers were in the forest before the incident,” Nyamilandu said.
He said the committee would investigate what the soldiers were doing in the forest prior to the incident.
Another ‘witness’, Lloyd Mfune, who was working as deputy head teacher at Kasangadzi Primary School, said he saw the plane flying at approximately 50 to 100 metres above sea level on the day of the incident.
“The plane was not flying fast. I believe the weather of that day contributed to the fact that it was flying at a lower height. There was fog in the morning of that day,” Mfune said.
