Moyo survives near plane crash

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By Ancin Yokojoma

THE former Zimbabwe Minister of Information and Publicity Professor Jonathan Moyo on Wednesday escaped unhurt when an Air Zimbabwe Boeing 737 made an emergency landing at the Johannesburg International Airport.

An evidently shaken, Professor Moyo who spoke to this reporter by phone soon after his evacuation from the plane said since he started flying, he had never seen anything like it.

Six passengers were injured in the confusion of the evacuation.

"I am not afraid of flying but since I started flying, I have never seen anything like this. Gas masks fell out and some people were taken to hospital because of shock," said professor Moyo.

The incident delayed most of Jonathan Moyo's commitments and he had to cancel some on the meetings.

Sources told New Zimbabwe.com the pilot HAD complained about the state of the aircraft before departure from Harare.

"A combination of outright arrogance and incompetence on the part of the Air Zimbabwe people in Harare has nearly ended in a disaster for a national airline that has never crashed since Independence," a source said.

Ashley Cook, a spokesperson for emergency services network ER24 , said the six were injured when they were evacuated from the aircraft via emergency shoots.

Sapa also quotes, Jacqui O'Sullivan, Airports Company South Africa spokesperson, as saying that the injured included a pregnant woman and an epileptic man. She said the Boeing from Harare made an emergency landing at 8.45am when the pilot noticed smoke in the cockpit.

The 93 passengers and six crew members were immediately evacuated. The injured were taken to the airport clinic and three were discharged. The other three were taken to Harmelia Medi-Clinic in Edenvale for treatment.
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