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eventREF E-0095547Revised

Event record

Zambian plane crashes at Libreville, Gabon killing 18 national soccer team players

Date
28 Apr 1993
Updated
30 Sep 2019
Zambian plane crashes at Libreville, Gabon killing 18 national soccer team players

A Zambian Air Force De Havilland Canada DHC-5D Buffalo carrying the Zambian national soccer team crashed in the Atlantic Ocean just 500 meters offshore from Libreville, Gabon in 1993. The Zambian national soccer team, better known by the nickname Chipolopolo was destined for Dakar to play against Senegal in a world cup qualifier. All thirty on board the plane perished. The Gabonese government conducted an official investigation which revealed that the pilot had shut down the wrong engine after a fire. They attributed his error in judgment to fatigue.  The cause of the fire remained uncertain. All the players and coaching staff were buried in a site that has come to be known as Heroes Acres.

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How we know this

  1. 01BBC Sport Zambia players visit site close to 1993 plane crash [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk [Accessed on 19 April 2013]
  2. 02Football Association of Zambia Gabon Air Disaster [online] Available at: www.fazfootball.com [Accessed on 19 April 2013]  

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2013, April 25). Zambian plane crashes at Libreville, Gabon killing 18 national soccer team players . South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095547

South African History Online (2013) 'Zambian plane crashes at Libreville, Gabon killing 18 national soccer team players ', South African History Online, 25 April. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095547 (Accessed: 14 September 2026).

South African History Online, Zambian plane crashes at Libreville, Gabon killing 18 national soccer team players [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095547, (accessed 14 September 2026).

"Zambian plane crashes at Libreville, Gabon killing 18 national soccer team players ." South African History Online, 25 Apr. 2013, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095547. Accessed 14 Sept. 2026.

South African History Online. "Zambian plane crashes at Libreville, Gabon killing 18 national soccer team players ." South African History Online. April 25, 2013. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095547.

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