Families of the victims of a military plane crash that killed former vice president Saulos Chilima and eight others on June 10 2024 say they will give their reactions after going through the final report.
The Nation yesterday sought the families’ reactions following the release of the final technical report by German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (BFU) on Saturday.
Representatives of three of the nine families, namely Chilima’s, former first lady Patricia Shanil Dzimbiri’s and that of Chilima’s aide-de-camp Chisomo Chimaneni said they were yet to thoroughly analyse the final report. The other six families could not be reached for their comments.
In an interview yesterday, Chilima family spokesperson Dr. Ben Chilima said they were planning to meet and consult family members before publicly making their position on the final report.
However, the fallen vice-president’s elder brother could not indicate the exact date of the meeting.
Said Chilima: “It’s too early for us to comment because it [the report] has just been released and not all of us have read it. We would like some time to meet together, read the report and then consult with the other families as well.”
In a separate interview, Ben Mankhamba, speaking on behalf of the Dzimbiri family, said he learnt about the final report through the media yesterday and was yet to read it at the time of interview around 3pm.
“I was not aware of the final report until this [yesterday] morning when I listened to the radio. I don’t know who they [government] communicated with,” he said.
Similarly, Chimaneni’s uncle, Gladson Chipumphula, who speaks on behalf of the family, asked for more time before commenting on the matter as he was yet to read the final investigation report.
He said it will be the family’s collective responsibility to make its final stand.
On Saturday, Minister of Information and Digitalisation Moses Kunkuyu said in a statement that families of the plane crash victims were briefed about the contents of the report at a meeting held the same day in Lilongwe.
Among others, the BFU final investigation report established that human error was among the contributing factors to the plane crash. The report states that the flight crew’s decision to fly in adverse weather that affected visibility was the major cause of the accident that led the plane to collide with terrain.
According to the report, the Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services did not provide any weather information on the planned route contrary to International Civil Aviation Organisation standards.
It also stated that lack of an effective emergency transmitter and the misleading information about the last position of the aircraft made the search for the accident site more difficult.
Besides Chilima, Dzimbiri and Chimameni, six others were aboard the illfated Malawi Defence Force Dornier 228 MAFT03 from Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe to Mzuzu Airport when it crashed at Nthungwa in Viphya Plantation on June 10 2025, killing everyone on board.
The six were Chilima’s guard commander Lucas Kapheni, medical officer Dan Kanyemba, Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy chief of protocol Abdul Lapukeni, pilot-in-command Colonel Owen Sambalopa, second pilot Major Flora Selemani and aircraft engineer Major Wales Aidin.
They were travelling to Nkhata Bay via Mzuzu to attend the burial ceremony of former minister of Justice and Attorney General Ralph Kasambara
