Flight from London in ‘accident’ at Harare airport

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HARARE: Ambulances rushed to Harare international airport yesterday after a Boeing 767 on a flight from London was involved in an accident while landing, an aviation official said.

“I can confirm that a 767 plane coming from London has had an accident at Harare airport,” David Chawota, the head of Zimbabwe’s Civil Aviation Authority, told AFP.

“We are trying to establish what has caused the accident. We have set up an emergency help line desk to assist.”

He would not name the airline or say what exactly had happened to the plane.

But officials from South African Airways and               Kenya Airways said they were told the incident was a drill.

“The airport is carrying a drill,” a Kenya Airways official said.

“We also didn’t know anything about it, but there are ambulances and police around the airport to make it like a real situation.”

A British Airways spokesman in London said none of the airline’s planes had been involved in the incident.

Air Zimbabwe chief executive officer Peter Chikumba also told AFP none of its planes was involved.

“No it was not one of ours,” he said.

“We don’t know what happened. But I am aware that it is the civil aviation which has issued that statement.”

“They called me to say there has been an accident at the airport. So I wasn’t at the airport, I am actually driving to go to there,” he added.

A Boeing 767 can carry up to 375 passengers.

In November last year, an Air Zimbabwe plane veered off the runway in Harare after hitting a group of warthogs.— AFP