‘Warthog’ grounds Air Zimbabwe plane

By Violet Gonda
4 November 2009

There was panic and pandemonium amongst passengers when an Air Zimbabwe plane was forced to make an emergency stop on the runaway on Tuesday night, after it allegedly ‘hit a warthog’ at the Harare International Airport.

Air Zimbabwe CEO, Peter Chikumba, told the the South African Press Association that the Bulawayo bound M60 flight ‘hit a warthog on the runway and was forced to make an emergency brakes stop.’ He said the plane had 34 passengers and no one was injured.

But some passengers on the plane disagreed with the official position. One of the passengers on the Chinese manufactured aircraft was Fambai Ngirande, the spokesperson of the National Association of Non Governmental Organisations (NANGO).

He told SW Radio Africa on Wednesday: “As far as I am concerned it was an accident - one in which something blew beneath the plane and the plane was forced to veer from the runway. We are really lucky to be alive. Seconds after the plane stopped the exit doors wouldn’t open. It could have been a disaster if the thing had caught fire.” Ngirande said there was panic when the emergency doors would not open and people were screaming and climbing over each other looking for escape exits.

He said he is not convinced that the accident was caused by a warthog as the passengers didn’t see any evidence of that when they finally managed to get out of the plane. “As far as most people are concerned Air Zim equipment is outdated and under serviced and traveling with Air Zimbabwe is just precarious.”

The national airliner was blasted for being unprepared for such incidents. Ngirande said what was worse was the quality of the response by Air Zimbabwe and the fact that an ambulance never came to the scene of the accident.

By coincidence there were a couple of journalists on the Bulawayo bound flight who tried to film the incident, but they ended up being detained by security agents. The NANGO spokesperson said: “What was truly annoying is the fact that of all the possible responses to such an emergency – whether it be medical, counselling or giving food – the swiftest response was security agents landing on the scene and arresting journalists. It is worrisome.” He said the journalists were detained until 2am and had their cameras confiscated. “I hear they are attempting to charge them with filming without authorisation.”

There was no other flight to Bulawayo that night, so a few passengers opted to fly the following day while the majority found other means to get to Bulawayo. Ngirande who was on the next flight said less than 10 out of the 34 passengers came back tried to catch the second flight.

Meanwhile, a South African Airways plane was forced to cancel one of its flights to Zimbabwe on Tuesday night because of the Air Zim plane that was blocking the runway, disrupting the travel plans of many. Passengers were then forced to fly the next morning as a result.