Chivayo, wife, three others’ heavily dismembered bodies removed from crash site after 18-hour operation

THE heavily dismembered bodies of controversial businessman Wicknell Chivayo, his wife Lucy Muteke and three others killed in a plane crash were finally removed from the wreckage site about 18 hours after the tragedy.

The grim recovery operation was still underway when NewZimbabwe.com arrived at the scene around 10 am on Thursday, with forensic officials and Doves Funeral Services morticians carefully collecting human remains scattered across the crash site.

The remains were placed in black body bags before being carried on stretchers to waiting vehicles.

The crash site was littered with mangled aircraft debris, while the smell of burnt material and human remains hung heavily in the air.

The victims were so badly burned and dismembered that some of the first people to reach the scene said they struggled to identify them.

A Kudenga Farm worker, David Yoramu, said rescuers were confronted with a horrific scene as they battled to put out the flames.

“We could not extinguish the fire from the bodies. We had to source a water bowser for us to extinguish the fire. It wasn’t looking good. They were badly disfigured,” Yoramu said.

Chivayo’s family members, including his brother Joachim, were also at the scene as the painstaking recovery operation continued.

The remains are expected to undergo formal identification and post-mortem procedures before being released to the families for burial arrangements.

The crash claimed the lives of Chivayo, Muteke, two pilots and a security aide after the aircraft went down shortly after leaving their rural home in Gandami.

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