Spouses of the June 10 2024 military plane crash victims have told the fresh inquiry that some of their loved ones’ mobile phones are still missing while others were returned late and badly damaged.
Mary Chilima, widow of vice-president Saulos Chilima, told the inquiry at Parliament Building in Lilongwe on Monday that she received her husband’s mobile phones a month after the crash and after making follow-ups.
She told Parliament’s Ad-hoc Committee investigating the crash that the phones were returned badly broken and expressed concern that keeping them for a month raised suspicions that they might have been tampered with while in government custody.
“I started following up on why the phones were not returned. Why were they holding on to them? We were only given two phones after a month. We are still missing one,” Mary told the committee.
In her testimony, she also stated that Chilima’s personal items, including a wristwatch, rosary, ring and bracelet were first returned to her in a container while a jacket and briefcase were handed over later.
However, in June 2024, the Chilima family spokesperson Ben Chilima publicly acknowledged that personal belongings found at the crash site—including a watch, wedding ring, rosary, prayer book, phone and clothes—were handed over and expressed gratitude for their return.
Taking her turn later, Sarah Lapukeni—the widow of Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy chief of protocol Abdul Lapukeni—said her husband’s phone was returned extensively damaged as if it had been ground with a pestle in a mortar.
“The wires were outside and the phone looked like it was pounded in a mortar, the SIM card inali ngati amayisinja mu mtondo [it was like pounded] and so twisted that one could not straighten it up,” she said, wondering how such damage could occur from the accident.
But Sarah said her husband’s passport was returned intact, though it had little dust, spots of blood and smelled of fuel.
Yesterday, Effiness Katunga Kanyemba, widow of Dr Dan Kanyemba who was Chilima’s medical officer, testified that her husband’s phone was in a state beyond repair.
She said it was handed to her brother-in-law who later presented it to her.
Effiness further stated that she tried calling her husband around 4pm on the day of the crash and his phone rang, but went unanswered. She said on her second attempt she was not successful as it had gone off.
Taona Aidin, widow of aircraft engineer Major Wales Aidin, also told the committee on Monday that only one of her husband’s two mobile phones was recovered from the crash site.
She further said her husband last sent her a WhatsApp message at 9.42 am reading “enroute to Mzuzu”. She responded within a minute, but never received a reply, although his phone indicated he was “online” up to 10.16am, the time investigators indicated the crash happened.
Findings from the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (BFU), released in October 2025, established that the navigation system on the aircraft recorded position data until 10.16am, moments before the crash.
The parliamentary probe marks the third investigation into the tragedy.
In December 2024, a commission of inquiry chaired by High Court of Malawi Judge Jabbar Alide and appointed by former president Lazarus Chakwera ruled out foul play. It attributed the accident to bad weather and other human factors.
