Earlier testimonies before the Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee on the Chikangawa plane crash indicated that Malawi’s security agencies mounted a large-scale operation involving soldiers, police officers and other responders to locate Vice President Saulos Chilima and other passengers.
Military and police officials who appeared before the committee outlined the deployment of personnel and the challenges faced during the search, but their presentations focused mainly on manpower, coordination and the progress of the operation rather than providing a detailed inventory of equipment used by ground teams.
Lawyer Kelvin Sentala has now brought the issue of search equipment into sharper focus after telling the committee that the group he joined relied on mobile phone torches while moving through Chikangawa Forest.
“The team was using phone torches. The search looked disorganized because they were using torches, phone torches,” Sentala told the committee.
Sentala said he saw police officers and soldiers moving from one area to another as they followed information received during the search. He said there was no clear systematic approach visible to those participating in the operation.
His testimony has raised questions about whether the first responders had access to specialised emergency search equipment suitable for a night operation in difficult forest terrain.
The committee is now expected to establish what resources were available during the first hours of the search, when specialised equipment was introduced, and whether the response was adequate for such a high-profile emergency.
