A Zimbabwean family is preparing to bury billionaire Wicknell Chivayo and his wife Lucy without their heads, after a fire consumed their bodies in last week’s helicopter crash.
Chivayo, a prominent businessman who had faced corruption allegations over government contracts awarded to companies linked to him, will alongside his wife be laid to rest on Thursday.
However, the couple will be laid to rest side by side at Glen Forest Cemetery in Harare on Thursday, without their family having recovered all of their remains.
According to ZimLive, Chivayo’s uncle and family spokesperson Herbert Chivayo said the five victims were burnt beyond recognition after the helicopter crashed at Kudenga Farm in Marondera last Wednesday.
“The bodies were burnt until the fire died on its own, so you can imagine what the status is like,” Herbert said. “They were beyond recognition.”
The family had hoped forensic examinations would help identify remains believed to be parts of the victims’ heads.
That hope was later shattered when experts established that the remains were not heads.
Herbert has also dismissed reports circulating on social media that the missing heads had been recovered.
“I have seen on social media people saying that the heads were found, but that’s not true. No head was found,” he said.
“There are some remains which forensic officials suspected to be head remains, but they found out that they were not. That’s the situation.”
The tragedy has left the family facing the painful task of saying goodbye without being able to recover the full remains of the couple.
The helicopter crashed in misty conditions as Chivayo travelled from his rural home in Chivhu, with a planned stop in Marondera.
A final message from the pilot indicated that the crew was struggling to get out of the clouds before the crash.
The accident also killed co-pilot Courage Mutavirwa, former Air Force of Zimbabwe pilot Captain Calvin Soda and security officer Senelisiwe Magagula.
Mutavirwa and Soda were buried on Sunday, in Chiredzi and Marondera respectively.
Magagula is expected to be buried in Lupane on Monday.
Chivayo, a prominent businessman who had faced corruption allegations over government contracts awarded to companies linked to him, will alongside his wife be laid to rest on Thursday.
However, the couple will be laid to rest side by side at Glen Forest Cemetery in Harare on Thursday, without their family having recovered all of their remains.
According to ZimLive, Chivayo’s uncle and family spokesperson Herbert Chivayo said the five victims were burnt beyond recognition after the helicopter crashed at Kudenga Farm in Marondera last Wednesday.
“The bodies were burnt until the fire died on its own, so you can imagine what the status is like,” Herbert said. “They were beyond recognition.”
The family had hoped forensic examinations would help identify remains believed to be parts of the victims’ heads.
That hope was later shattered when experts established that the remains were not heads.
Herbert has also dismissed reports circulating on social media that the missing heads had been recovered.
“I have seen on social media people saying that the heads were found, but that’s not true. No head was found,” he said.
“There are some remains which forensic officials suspected to be head remains, but they found out that they were not. That’s the situation.”
The tragedy has left the family facing the painful task of saying goodbye without being able to recover the full remains of the couple.
The helicopter crashed in misty conditions as Chivayo travelled from his rural home in Chivhu, with a planned stop in Marondera.
A final message from the pilot indicated that the crew was struggling to get out of the clouds before the crash.
The accident also killed co-pilot Courage Mutavirwa, former Air Force of Zimbabwe pilot Captain Calvin Soda and security officer Senelisiwe Magagula.
Mutavirwa and Soda were buried on Sunday, in Chiredzi and Marondera respectively.
Magagula is expected to be buried in Lupane on Monday.
