Aboard a derelict military plane AF-319, the entire Zambia National Soccer team perished after a stop over off the coast of Gabon enroute to Senegal for the 1994 U.S.A World Cup Qualifiers.

The nation stood silent and motionless, possed as if to break out in a chant and dance. But there was no rejoicing, no ulutatuins.

April 28,1993 shall always be a nightmare to all Zambians, with the soccer loving ones being the most hit, especially if the standards of soccer in this country will continue deteriorating.

Gabon Disaster Memorial Site behind Independence Stadium in Lusaka

Let’s take a quick recap on how the tragedy is alleged to have happened

The tragedy befell Zambia national football team when the military plane(reg.AF-319) carrying the team to Senegal for a 1994 world cup qualification match crushed in the late evening of April 27 1993.The journey needed two refueling stops and at the first stop in Congo, engine problems were noted in the ZAF buffalo DHC-5D.Despite this, the flight continued and a few minutes after taking off from a second stop in Libreville, Gabon , one of the engines caught fire and failed.. The pilot, who was tired from already having flown back from Mauritius earlier that day, then shut down the wrong engine, causing the plane to lose all power during the climb out of Libreville airport and fall into the water 500m offshore.

All 30 passengers and crew, including 18 players as well as the coaches and support staff, were lost in the accident. When news reached Zambia hours later, the nation was overcome.

Indeed the nation was trounced because it had lost assets which were unreplaceable.The lads were just unstoppable and had we not lost them, we would have been talking about how Zambia national soccer team lifted the 1994 Africa cup trophy.

"Thousands wailed while hundreds failed as the 30 bodies of the plane crash victims arrived at Lusaka International Airport from Gabon yesterday to an emotionally charged and moaning reception attended by President Fredrick Chiluba and almost the entire Cabinet including Vice President Levy Patrick Mwanawansa," wrote the Daily Mail on May 3,1993.

President Chiluba knelt down before wailing family members of the deceased with some of them crying for his help to console them.

"Ba Chiluba mutusungeko! Ba Chiluba mutusungeko ! Uyu e wali lesa wesu," wrote the Daily Mail again.

The tragedy marked the start to the declined standard in Zambian football. There were even calls to withdraw from the Africa and World Cup qualifiers.

But the legendary Kalusha 'Geart Kalu ' Bwalya was quoted by Daily Mail on May 2, 1993, "The players who were instrumental in making Zambia a formidable team are gone and we are back to square. I don't know whether we will be able to have another team but we must not give up," said the then PSV based

In spite of the tragedy, the hard working Kalu came forth to carry the team to the final of the African Cup of Nations in Tunisia. Having to complete its World Cup qualifiers, and with the African Nations Cup only months away, the quickly assembled, and inexperienced new national team were given a difficult task. Kalusha Bwalya and his new Chipolopolo worked hard to rebuild the team . The team lost in the 1994 Africa Cup final match against Nigeria after the super eagles scored their equalising and winning goals in the second half.

Another European based player Charles Musonda said,"I am in a state of shock and that is all I can say."

The then Nkana coach and former Zambia and Namibia coach, the late Ben Bamfuchile said " I coudn't believe it happened. I tried to imagine how the thing (tragedy) happened."

Nkana lost Five players in that tragedy; Eston 'Yellow man' Mulenga, John Soko, Numba Mwila, Kenani Simambe and Timothy 'Teacher' Mwitwa.

Zambiafootball.com would like to take close at each of the departed heroes..

Efford Chabala-He died at the age of 31, probably the oldest in the team.Chabala was one on the best goal minders Zambia has ever produced. He had an amazing reflex and good short-stopping abilities. This made many opposing strikers to avoid shorting at long range. He was also a good field player, the fact which gave his defenders confidence to give him back passes. He played as a top man in the 'Mighty' Mufulira Wanderers game against Zanaco and scored.

His son Freeman is currently pursing a Barchelor of Science course at the University of Zambia. Freeman is also training at FAZ Premier League side Lusaka Dynamos.


John Soko-He was commonly referred to Soko Zambia, meaning that he was the pillar of Zambian defence.He was sometimes called soko “malafu” because of his hard tackles.Soko’s kind of play was more less the same as the Brazilian wing backs’ kind of play. He could overlap to help in the attacking and retreating to defend within a blink of an eye when possession was lost.

Whiteson Changwe. -He has never missed a penalty for Zambia. He was a brilliant penalty taker who could give no chance to any goal keeper to stop his spot. He also had brilliant overlapping qualities.

Samuel Chomba-Dark, tall and gentle, chomba was not easily beaten both in the air and on the ground. He could just go for the ball and nothing else. Chomba never used to demonstrate over a decision made by the referee. He was always hushed both in the pitch and outside. If he ever accumulated a red card in his football career, it must have been a false one.

Estone 'Yellow man' Mulenga-the soccer fans used to call him “King yellow” because of his light complexion. He had priceless qualities of keeping opposing strikers at bay. His man to man tight marking and tackling skills earned him a comparison with the former world player of the year, the German defender Lothar Mathaus.Estone was really a defender which no team in the world can bench.

Derby Mankinka-The guy had terrific ball control, passing skills as well as defending abilities. For the matter of facts, he started playing as a defender before he was transformed into a midfilder.In him, the coach had a safe pair of legs in the middle of the pack, able to defend and distribute balls. He also had amazing shooting aptitude which could yield goals when it mattered most.. When Zambia played against Tunisia at independence stadium, he scored a brilliant lone goal, which sunk Tunisia from 26 yards.

Timothy 'Teacher' Mweetwa-The soccer fans used to call him teacher or winger- wizard. He could round-off the entire defense and push the ball behind the back of the net. His brilliant dribbling skills made him be a nightmare to all his opponents.

Mwitwa Jr was born five days after his father's death and in 2002, he told BBC, " I don't know my Dad. I have only about my Dad through Mum."

Godfrey Kangwa-He was dubbed Dunga, after the Brazilian fable and world cup winner Carlos Dunga. Kangwa was slowly becoming a force to reckon with especially after the midfield genius Charles Musonda had started showing no interest to play for the national team.

Kelvin'Malaza' Mutale-He was nick-named Malaza.Arguably Malaza could have made a name more than Samuel Eto’o or Didier Drogba.The lad had everything that a striker needs, talk of resilience, tenacity, pace and the target, they were uncomparable.He was a true top man who would rarely come out of the game without shaking the net. He was also very sturdy that he never had any serious injury in his career.

Wisdom Chansa-A.K.A Sammer bee...Wiz, as his colleagues used to call him, was an all- time goal scorer. He was never on goal drought. This ability imparted confidence in the coaching staff of Godfrey Chitalu and Alex chola to always start him even when European based professionals were around. He was a crowd puller and the darling of the crowd. The people would always shout Wiz....! Wiz...! whenever he touched the ball.


"Did you know that there other people who like me "escaped" the disaster by the grace of God? I was supposed to be on that flight but my then employers who had seconded me to the FAZ withdrew my secondment just before the disaster. We shall go into that later.

Wisdom Chansa who died in that crush when he was inf act not in the original Zambian Team and was coxed to join the group at Lusaka International Airport. He was on his way from South Africa to his Zambian home town apparently to deliver an engagement ring to his fiancee," Former FAZ General Secretary Bennett M Simfukwe wrote

Numba Mwila-He was also known as little big man because of his short height. He was really very short but his short height was compensated with the pace. He was as fast as lightening and this gave a lot of defenders a problem when playing against him. When Zambia played against Namibia and he was a menace in the Namibia defense. And he was the youngest member at just 21. His younger brother, Numba Mumamba is a former international and at the moment he is at Zanaco as coach player.

Moses Chikwalakwala-He was a very good ball crosser and his crosses produced goals on several occasions. He also had excellent dribbling skills which could be liken to those of the Argentine Lionel Messi.Chikwalakwala was one of the youngest players in the team and could have gone miles with his career.

Robert Watyakeni-A very tall, huge and steady defender who was always on his tolls to stop the opposing strikers.Watyakeni had also good heading skills which earned him a number of crucial goals for his club as well as for the national team.

Winter Mumba-the boy was slowly becoming a force to reckon with. Close followers of the game predicted that he was slowly displacing Changwe.He was very good both when defending and attacking.

Moses Masuwa-He was some sort of a utility player who could play all positions starting from number 6 to 11.I remember watching him playing as a number 9 when kabwe warriors played against national of Egypt. He was later plummeted to play as an anchorman, linking the defense with the striking force.

Patrick 'Bomber' Banda-He was very tiny but hasty, intelligent and precise in his passes.Bomber,as he was called, was not a regular in the national team but the coaching staff did not drop him because they knew that his contribution to the team when needed could not be offered by any one.

Kenani Simambe-Kenny was a striker who any defender could undermine on first meeting because of his small body but whom no defender would love to play against after knowing him. He had the target and the stamina to punish his opponents.

Richard Mwanza-In him, there was a safe pair of hands, standing between the sticks and providing enough contact to the ball to prevent it from hitting the back of the net. Richard was very committed and provided enough competition to chabala.

COACHING BENCH

Godfrey'Ucar' Chitalu-After making a name as a player-netting unprecedented 107 goals in the 1972 season-Chitalu also proved to be a good coach as he assembled a formidable side without European based professionals which could compete favorably with the likes of Nigeria, Cameroon and Ghana.

Alex Chola-he was a man who did not talk much on the touchline but always followed the game attentively. Together with his counterpart, chitalu, they were talent- tapers who could see what nobody else could see.

It will be exaclty 15 years on Monday next Week since they perished but their memories are still fresh, and if we don’t remember them in a manner which is honorable, such as organizing tournaments on the memorial day, Zambian football will continue going down until finally Zambia will be a non footballing nation in the world.

Dear Zambians lets pay back what they did for this country by holding ceremonial memorial services for the heroes.

Lads rest in peace !

Please leave a comment about your memories on our fallen heroes by posting it Zambianfootball@gmail.com