On the evening of 27 April 1993, a DHC-5 Buffalo transport aircraft of the Zambian Air Force crashed into the Atlantic Ocean shortly after taking off 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.
The official investigation concluded that the pilot had shut down the wrong engine following an engine fire. It also found that pilot fatigue and a faulty instrument had contributed to the accident.
The Chipolopolo were a very promising Zambia national team. At the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul they thrashed Italy 4–0. They had their eyes on the 1993 Africa Cup of Nations trophy and a place at their first World Cup.
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All 30 passengers and crew, including 18 players, as well as the national team coach and support staff, died in the accident. The Chipolopolo’s captain, Kalusha Bwalya—later national team coach and president of the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ)—was not aboard the flight as he was in the Netherlands playing for PSV at that time and had made separate arrangements to make his own way to Senegal to take part in the match.
Charles Musonda, at the time playing in Belgium for Anderlecht, was previously injured and thus was not on the flight.
Bennett Mulwanda Simfukwe, who had been seconded to the FAZ by his employers (ZCCM) for 5 years and was supposed to be on this flight, wasn’t on the flight because his employers demanded that he should immediately be removed from the list of those who were officially scheduled to travel to Senegal.
