‎By Maxwell Mapungwana
‎MARONDERA — Bad weather that suddenly hit the area is believed to have caused the helicopter ferrying Wicknell Chivayo, his wife Lucy and three other people to crash at Kudenga Farm in Marondera rural in Mashonaland East, the manager of the helicopter company has said.
‎The accident, which occurred on Wednesday evening, also killed the pilot, Captain Courage Mutavirwa, Chivayo’s security aide, and Captain Kelvin Soda, who is also a pilot but was travelling as a passenger on this occasion.
‎‎In an interview with New Ziana at the scene of the accident on Thursday, Osca Musakasa, the manager of Sky Helicopter, said the five were travelling in two helicopters from Chivhu heading towards Marondera. However, on approaching Kudenga Farm, it is believed that bad weather that suddenly descended on the area forced them to change course towards Harare.
‎”The other helicopter managed to avoid the misty part of the route, and as the other helicopter in which Chivayo was travelling attempted to change its route in order to follow the other chopper, that is when disaster struck, leading to it crashing,” Musakasa said.
‎At the scene of the accident, there were several pieces of the broken helicopter which had slid for about 120 metres after catching fire.
‎The body believed to be that of Chivayo was recovered where the helicopter first touched the ground, while other bodies were recovered more than 50 metres away after being thrown from the wreckage on impact.
‎Several people spoken to at the scene indicated that the bodies were so badly damaged that it was difficult to identify them. Relatives who were later called to the scene identified some of the deceased by their feet or hands.
‎Several pieces of human flesh were also recovered from the accident scene, with this news crew witnessing some of the remaining flesh long after the bodies had been taken away by a local funeral services company. It was, however, not established whether the remains were taken to Marondera or Harare.
‎Several belongings of the deceased were also burnt in the inferno, with nothing recovered.
‎David Yoramu, a supervisor at Kudenga Farm who was one of the first people to arrive at the scene, said they were servicing farm machinery in preparation for the following day’s work when they were told that a helicopter had crashed on the farm. He then teamed up with other farm workers to investigate.
‎”On arrival at the scene, we were greeted by a bluish smoke from the burning pieces of the chopper, but there was nothing to suggest that it was a helicopter as it had been reduced to small pieces,” said Yoramu.
‎He said the mangled bodies could not be identified as three of them were still burning. He said they could only identify one of the women by her feet, which were visible, but the rest of the bodies, including their heads, had been crushed.
‎The grass, Yoramu said, was also burning, and they had to work hard to stop the fire from spreading to a nearby wheat crop.
‎”I then phoned one of my bosses, Varaidzo Kudenga, informing her about the accident, who later called the police,” he said.
‎Bernard Sekete from a neighbouring farm said he first heard the sound of a helicopter, which later turned into an unusual noise before producing a loud bang, suggesting that it had crashed.
‎”Since there was so much mist and it was also getting dark, we did not go to find out what had happened, only to hear this morning that a helicopter had crashed at Kudenga Farm,” said Sekete.
‎Another local man from Wakatama Village, about five kilometres from the accident scene, Costa Munemo, said that at around 5pm, while working in the field with his brother, they also heard an abnormal helicopter sound which immediately stopped, with no further sound from the chopper. This caused them to worry, as they suspected an accident had occurred.
‎”This morning we teamed up with other villagers to try and locate the helicopter when we heard from other people that it had crashed near Kudenga Farm dam,” he said.
‎He said the helicopter was very familiar in the area, and they knew it as Chivhayo’s chopper through social media.
‎Chivhayo was a well-known businessman and philanthropist whose charitable works and high-profile lifestyle had made him a household name in Zimbabwe.
‎Police could not immediately be reached for comment, and investigations into the exact cause of the crash are ongoing.
