Conflicting testimony has emerged before the Parliamentary Ad hoc Committee investigating the Chikangawa plane crash over when police were alerted to reports that could have helped search teams locate the Nthungwa crash site—and what action followed.
Former Nthungwa Primary School head teacher Atusaye Mwalwanda told the committee yesterday that resident Flora Mkandawire alerted him between 10am and 11am on June 10 2024 after seeing an aircraft and hearing what she believed was “something falling”.
with blood. | Ntchindi Meki
Mwalwanda said he subsequently tried to contact police officer Emily Mwangonde at Northern Region Police Headquarters but was told she was unavailable.
He told the committee that he later called Mwangonde at about 4pm. However, Mwangonde said she received the call at about 7pm, creating a three-hour discrepancy between their accounts.
Mwalwanda said police later called him at around 8pm and told him that officers would come to the area, but they did not arrive that night.
“They told me they would come to the area, but they did not come that night,” Mwalwanda said.
Mwangonde said that when she received Mwalwanda’s call, he told her that women in Nthungwa had heard a sound behind a nearby mountain.
She said she passed the information to Northern Region Police Headquarters operations officer Emmie Soko, together with the informant’s telephone number and a map showing the Nthungwa area.
The conflicting accounts followed earlier testimony by Mkandawire, who told the committee that she had seen the aircraft, heard gunshots and reported the incident to Mwalwanda, who then contacted police.
Another alert
The committee also heard a separate account of a possible crash alert from former Mzuzu State Lodge police officer Samuel Muwanga.
Muwanga said forest guard Wongani Ngoma called him at about 5pm and reported hearing a strange sound earlier that morning.
He said he attempted to contact his superiors but was initially hampered by a network problem before eventually passing the information to a Deputy Commissioner of Police.
Muwanga stressed that he had not heard the sound himself.
“I did not personally hear the sound. The information I am giving the committee is what Ngoma told me,” he said.
Ngoma had previously told the committee that he alerted Muwanga, his friend and a police officer at Mzuzu State Lodge, about a possible crash site in the Nthungwa area.
The aircraft was eventually located on June 11, after Ngoma and fellow forest guard Mike Chirwa helped guide officials to the site.
Duma testimony
The committee also heard from Discovery Munthali, a close friend of Ephraim Duma, the Lilongwe resident who previously testified that he saw Vice-President Saulos Chilima standing at the aircraft’s door and calling for help.
Committee chairperson Walter Nyamilandu-Manda questioned Munthali about Duma’s state of mind and credibility.
Munthali described Duma as a successful businessperson who owned several businesses, vehicles and a house.
“Duma was sane and a successful business person,” Munthali said.
The committee wound up yesterday’s proceedings by hearing testimony from Duma’s uncle, Bryson Chirwa, who said Duma arrived at his home the morning after the disaster with blood-stained clothes and claimed he had been chased and shot at in the forest.
Chirwa said Duma arrived on the morning of June 11 2024 and told him he had encountered trouble while following the aircraft in Chikangawa.
“He had no injuries. His clothes were only stained with blood,” Chirwa told the committee.
The committee also heard that Duma told Chirwa he had been found in a sack bag after the alleged pursuit.
“It was because of what he had experienced in Chikangawa that he went to South Africa,” Chirwa said.
The Malawi Defence Force Dornier 228 crashed in the Nthungwa area of Viphya Plantation on June 10 2024, killing Chilima and eight other people.
The committee is examining the circumstances surrounding the crash, including reports received before the aircraft was located the following day.
