A fresh contradiction has emerged in the Chikangawa plane crash investigation after the widow of late Dr. Dan Kanyemba told Parliament that her husband’s phone rang after the aircraft went down, but was later recovered badly damaged.
Mrs. Effiness Katunga Kanyemba, whose husband served as a medical officer in the Office of the Vice President, made the disclosure on Tuesday while testifying before the Ad Hoc Parliamentary Committee investigating the June 10, 2024 crash that killed former Vice President Saulos Chilima and eight others.
She told the committee the phone continued to ring after the crash before it was eventually recovered destroyed, a revelation likely to fuel further scrutiny over what happened at the crash site and how victims’ belongings were handled.
When asked whether she found the SIM card in it, Mrs. Effiness Katunga Kanyemba said she does not know whether the SIM card was in the phone because the phone was badly damaged and it could not even charge.
Mrs. Effiness Katunga told the committee that she was surprised to receive a phone that was so damaged, considering that the same phone had rang on the previous day.
However, she said she did not have a definite answer because many things happen at an accident scene and it was hard for her to predict being that she was not present there herself.
“I was indeed surprised that the phone was in that condition because it rang on that day. But I linked it to the fact that many things happen at an accident scene, so I had questions, but I did not have a definite answer,” she said.
Mrs. Effiness Katunga Kanyemba also told the committee that when investigators came, it was the late Dr. Dan Kanyemba’s uncle, who went to give evidence.
She further told the committee that from the time the plane went missing until it was found, she did not receive any communication until the time the deaths were confirmed.
She also testified that she did not see the bodies and she assumes that another relative may have been present for identification, but she does not know if any family member attended the autopsy.
