On This day [27th April] in 1993 a plane carrying one of the best if not the best Zambian Assembled sides of all time clashed killing all the 18 players on Board,the crew,coaching staff,The FA president,a Journalist and a public servant.

The 1993 Zambia national football team air disaster occurred in the late evening of 27 April 1993 when a Zambian Air Force de Havilland Canada DHC-5D Buffalo (registration AF-319) crashed into the Atlantic Ocean about 500 metres (550 yards) offshore from Libreville, Gabon. The flight was carrying most of the Zambian national football team to a FIFA World Cup Qualifier against Senegal in Dakar. All 25 passengers
and five crew members were killed.

A Gabonese official investigation into the accident concluded that the pilot had shut down the wrong engine after a fire. The investigation found that pilot fatigue and an instrument error had contributed to the accident. The accident is recreated in the documentary film Eighteam, about the Zambian national team, directed by Juan Rodriguez-Briso.

Of all the extraordinary memories of the Africa Cup of
Nations final in 2012, perhaps the most remarkable was the
reaction of the crowd. In the aftermath of the 1993
plane crash that killed 18 Zambia players just after
take-off after refuelling at Libreville, relations between
Zambia and Gabon sunk to ugly lows.

There were street protests in Libreville complaining
that mortuary facilities were being used for the
Zambian players rather than local dead. There were
rows over who should pay for the investigation and
even suggestions that the plane en route to a World
Cup qualifier against Senegal, had been inadvertently
shot down by Gabon’s military.

When decisions made by the Gabonese referee Jean-
Fidel Diramba denied a rebuilt Zambia qualification for
the 1994 World Cup, relations between the countries
were shattered. “Innuendoes against Gabon,” the Times of Zambia wrote, “will continue to fly for as long as memories of the crash, the frustrated searchers, the
cynical, almost triumphant grin of a referee named
Diramba linger on in the Zambian mind.” In Zambia the word “gabon” is still used to mean something
substandard or untrustworthy.

And yet on Sunday 12 february 2012 the crowd, most of whom
were Gabonese, clearly backed Hervé Renard’s side as
they defeated Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties. The
ultimate underdog story, the triumph of the human
spirit, won over home fans who might have been
expected to be hostile. Even on Monday, a taxi driver
stuck in traffic idly drummed on his steering-wheel
chanting “Chipolopolo, Chipolopolo” (the Copper-
headed Bullets), the nickname Zambia took on after the plane crash.

This was an event that went beyond partisanship,
beyond Zambia’s usual virtues of discipline, organisation and pace. This was something that went
beyond sport: it was about a nation coming together to
fulfil a dream. The 87-year-old former president Kenneth Kaunda – such a big fan that before the crash
the team was known as the KKXI – was there and so
was his fellow former-president Rupiah Banda.

So too was Kalusha Bwalya, probably Zambia’s greatest
player and the president of the federation by then. He
escaped the 1993 crash because he was based in the
Netherlands with PSV Eindhoven and so made his own
travel arrangements.

It was his idea to pull together the cream of the youth
teams after failure to qualify for the 2006 World Cup
and develop a young squad and Bwalya who brought
back the 43-year-old Renard, who had coached Zambia at the 2010 Cup of Nations, in October. When Bwalya appeared on the running track after the final penalty, every green-shirted player raced straight over. As Renard said, nobody knew what the victory meant
more than him.

List of victims
Crew
Colonel Fenton Mhone (pilot)
Lt Colonel Victor Mubanga (pilot)
Lt Colonel James Sachika (pilot)
Warrant Officer Edward Nambote (fitter)
Corporal Tomson Sakala (steward)
Footballers
Efford Chabala (goalkeeper)
John Soko (defender)
Whiteson Changwe (defender)
Robert Watiyakeni (defender)
Eston Mulenga (defender)
Derby Makinka (midfielder)
Moses Chikwalakwala (midfielder)
Wisdom Mumba Chansa (midfielder)
Kelvin “Malaza” Mutale (striker)
Timothy Mwitwa (striker)
Numba Mwila (midfielder)
Richard Mwanza (goalkeeper)
Samuel Chomba (defender)
Moses Masuwa (striker)
Kenan Simambe (striker)
Godfrey Kangwa (midfielder)
Winter Mumba (defender)
Patrick “Bomber” Banda (striker)
Coaching staff
Godfrey “Ucar” Chitalu (coach)
Alex Chola (assistant coach)
Wilson Mtonga (doctor)
Wilson Sakala
Others
Michael Mwape (FAZ Chairman)
Nelson Zimba (public servant)
Joseph Bwalya Salim (journalist)

Mubanga Aaron

Freelance Football Writer |Freelance sports presenter TV & Radio|Sports Analyst|Social media manager|mubajnrabntv@gmail.com