adminZvamaida Murwira Harare Bureau
An Air Zimbabwe plane was forced to turn back about halfway into a Harare-Bulawayo flight on Wednesday after developing an engine fault.
Flight UM331 was said to have been carrying about 60 passengers, some of them members of an Australian parliamentary delegation enroute to Victoria Falls.
Passengers boarded the plane for the 45-minute flight at around 7.15am, but the pilot was forced to make a U-turn to Harare International Airport 20 minutes later.
Air Zimbabwe public relations executive Shingai Dhliwayo said such incidents were normal in the aviation industry and were not unique to a specific airline. Dhliwayo said Air Zimbabwe prided itself as one of the safest and efficient airlines.
She declined to give details of what happened, requesting written questions which she had not yet responded to by last night.
Sources said the plane made a U-turn after travelling for the 20 minutes to allow engineers to attend to it.
It is understood that the pilot did not inform passengers of the technical fault, presumably to avoid causing panic, but eventually made the announcement upon landing.
derick.khumalo