London – Cairo – Mombasa – Dar es-Salaam – Lumbo – Maputo – Johannesburg

On May 1, 1939 at 12:00 AM, London – Cairo – Mombasa – Dar es-Salaam – Lumbo – Maputo – Johannesburg experienced a crash involving Short S.23 Empire Flying Boat, operated by Imperial Airways, with the event recorded near Lumbo Nampula.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a lake, sea, ocean, river crash site.

6 people were known to be on board, 2 fatalities were recorded, 4 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 33.3%.

Crew on board: 4, crew fatalities: 2, passengers on board: 2, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The crew was forced to abandon a first landing attempt off Lumbo for unknown reason. While on the second attempt, the seaplane christened 'Challenger' hit the water and came to rest off the Ilha de Mocambique Island. Two crew members, the radio officer Tom Webb and the flight clerc George Knight were killed while all four other occupants were injured. The cockpit separated from the fuselage on impact.

Aircraft reference details include registration G-ADVD, MSN S.821, year of manufacture 1935.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately -15.0193°, 40.6676°.