The plane carrying the Zambian national team fell into the sea on April 27, 1993.
Zambian football experienced great sadness 30 years ago. PDO
– The boys used to say that one day this machine will kill us.
This is how the Zambian football great remembers Kalusha Bwalya some time before the plane crash in the spring of 1993, which took away almost the entire highly promising national team.
Chipolopolo, Zambia’s national team, had two matches on their schedule at the end of April: first the African qualifier in Mauritius, then the World Cup qualifier in Senegal.
The Football Association of Zambia could not afford charters, so the team often traveled on the planes of the country’s air force.
After the trip to Mauritius, Chipolopolo’s journey continued from Lusaka to Dakar, the capital of Senegal. There were to be no less than three fuel stops on the way: in Brazzaville, Libreville and Abidjan.
Immediately after taking off from Libreville airfield, the DHC-5D Buffalo crashed into the sea off Gabon. All passengers on the plane died, including 18 Zambian national team players and the former striker icon Godfrey Chitalu led coaching group.
Crushing Italy
In the early 1990s, Chipolopolo had its own golden generation. The team had crushed Italy with a 4-0 win at the Seoul Olympics and had emerged as a worthy candidate for success in the African championships as well.
Bwalya scored a hat-trick against Italy. He was the figurehead and skipper of Chipolopolo.
– There had been so much enthusiasm and hope in the air. Suddenly it all shattered, Bwalya describes.
– No words are enough to describe the destruction. There was no end to the tears of our people.
Bwalya and another Zambian star Charly Musonda did not fly with the rest of the national team. Bwalya’s club team was PSV, Musonda’s Anderlecht, so they were supposed to travel to Senegal directly from Europe.
Kalusha Bwalya played 87 matches in the Zambian national team between 1983 and 2004. PDO
“Great Show”
Many expected the Zambians to withdraw from the World Cup qualification, but Bwalya and his partners had a different opinion. In July, a 50,000-strong Zambian crowd at the Independence Stadium in Lusaka cheered their almost completely reformed national team to a 2-1 victory over Morocco, Africa’s football giant.
– It was a really emotional event, Bwalya commented.
– Lost friends were on our minds. We put on quite a show for them.
In the final round of the further qualification, Morocco hosts Zambia, for whom a draw would have been enough for a place in the final tournament of the World Cup. Abdeslam Laghrissi scored the only goal of the game to throw the Moroccans to the United States.
As a small consolation, Zambia advanced to the finals of the African Championship tournament played the following year.
– After losing an entire team, we started rebuilding. The place in the final was a great achievement.
Zambia seriously challenged the Nigerian team, where they shone Daniel Amokachi, Emmanuel Amunike, Finidi George, Jay Jay Okocha and Sunday Oliseh. Amunike turned the match for Nigeria with two hits.
– Nigeria had a very good team, Bwalya states.
– Even though we lost, I have fond memories of the final because of the proximity of the tragedy in Gabon. In the second half, we played the best football in the history of Zambia.
Championship
Chipolopolo got back on their feet amazingly quickly after the tragedy, but the Zambians had to wait a long time, until 2012, for the first championship celebration. Fell in the final of the African championship tournament Didier Drogba and Yaya Toure starred Ivory Coast.
The victims of the spring 1993 tragedy were not forgotten in the moment of joy.
– We wanted to honor the players who died. It strengthened us, the French coach of the champion team Herve Renard uttered.
– In the first match, we faced Senegal. That’s where the team was heading. We won the final in Gabon. That’s where the plane fell. They were signs of fate.
Memorial
Zambia has never reached the finals of the World Cup.
– You can’t help but think about what could have happened, summarizes Bwalya.
– Our team had self-confidence. We wanted to get to the World Cup – and we were ready for it.
The players and coaches who died in the plane crash are buried in front of Independence Stadium. A monument called Heroes’ Acre stands at the burial site.
Sources: Aviation safety network, BBC, Fifa, Independent and Lusaka Times.
Report
According to a Gabonese report published ten years after the accident, engine problems were detected in Buffalo already in Brazzaville, during the first layover. After Libreville, the left engine died.
According to the report, the pilot turned off the right engine, after which the plane plunged into the sea shortly after takeoff. The report also mentions an incorrect warning light and a tired pilot.
According to the Aviation safety network website, the de Havilland Canada DHC-5D Buffalo of the Zambian Air Force had entered service in 1975.
In 2012, the Chipolopolo defeated the Ivory Coast in the final of the African Championship tournament. PDO