Minister's Brother, Others Feared Killed as Plane Crashes Near Zimbabwean Border

 

A small aircraft chartered by Mozambican ports company, Cornelder crashed near the Mozambique-Zimbabwe border, killing all its occupants, according to local media reports.

 

It is believed that six people among them four Green Motors Services (GMS) directors died in a plane crash at Vumba Mountain this morning.

"According to initial reports there could be a survivor and we cannot confirm if the others are dead,” Joao de Abreu, the director of Mozambique’s civil aviation authority (IACM), told a news conference in Maputo.

 

Zimbabwe’s state-owned daily The Herald reported that all six on board had died. “The weather conditions were unfavourable, which is the probable cause of the accident,” said De Abreu.

 

According to a report by Zitamar, Cornelder Mozambique, the company using the plane, is a private joint venture between Moçambique Ports and Railways (CFM) and Cornelder Holdings based in Rotterdam, Holland.

 

The company's chairman, who is the executive director, Adelino Mesquita, the brother of the Mozambique’s transport minister, Carlos Mesquita, was a passenger on the plane.

 

It was gathered that the four directors were on their way from Beira to attend a board meeting in Mutare.

 

Investigations to establish the cause of the accident are underway but preliminary investigations attribute the crash to bad weather.

 

The wreckage of the eight seater plane and body parts of the victims were strewn all over the place near the mountain peak.

 

Police and army details from Mozambique are at the scene and efforts are underway to take the bodies to Mutare Provincial Hospital Mortuary for post moterms.