Durban – Bulawayo – Harare

On May 7, 1998 at 08:30 AM, Durban – Bulawayo – Harare experienced a crash involving Antonov AN-32, operated by Gama Air, with the event recorded near Vaalwater Limpopo.

The flight was categorized as cargo and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

4 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 4 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 4, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. While cruising at the altitude of 13,000 feet on the leg from Durban to Bulawayo, the crew informed ATC about smoke spreading in the cockpit and was cleared to reduce his altitude. Shortly later, while flying at low altitude, the pilots open the cockpit windows to allow the smoke to evacuate and elected to make an emergency landing at Vaalwater Aerodrome which offers a grassy runway of 780 metres long and 10 metres wide. After touchdown, the aircraft struck a tree on the left side of the runway, cartwheeled, lost a landing gear and came to rest. All four occupants escaped uninjured while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Aircraft reference details include registration 3D-DRV, MSN 2302, year of manufacture 1990.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately -24.2981°, 28.1208°.