Froster Chisi, a security aide travelling on a separate helicopter, gave a detailed account of the moments before the crash that killed Zimbabwean businessman Wickell Chivayo and his wife Lucy on September 30.

According to Chisi, two helicopters departed Harare at 3 p.m. for Chivayo’s rural home in Gandami, Chivhu, and began their return journey at 4.20 p.m.

Deteriorating weather over the Mashonaland region forced a change of route, and the pilot of Chivayo’s aircraft repeatedly radioed that he had not exited cloud cover and appeared confused about the destination.

Chisi said the final transmission from Chivayo’s pilot raised alarm, after which his own helicopter landed in Marondera and waited for the missing aircraft.

When the missing helicopter did not appear, Chisi’s team flew back to Harare to collect ground vehicles, assuming the aircraft might have landed elsewhere because of the weather, and planned to track it by road once phone contact could be restored.

Chisi counted five occupants on board – Chivayo, his wife Lucy, Lucy’s personal aide and two pilots – a figure that differs from the police statement that said six people were aboard.

Zimbabwean police confirmed the crash, noted that the cause remains under investigation, and said forensic teams had to recover remains from wreckage spread over more than 50 metres of farmland for DNA identification.