Sports / Soccer
Warriors invited for Zambian Air Disaster anniversary commemorations
17 Apr 2013 at 08:30hrs | Views
Warriors coach Klaus Dieter Pagels could get an opportunity to assess his players following an invitation by the Football Association of Zambia to play the Warriors on 28 April to mark the 20th anniversary of the Zambia Air Disaster.
The disaster occurred on 27 April 1993 and killed all 18 players, two coaches, a doctor, two FAZ officials, a journalist and five crew members when a military plane plunged into the Atlantic Ocean just a few meters off Gabon's coast.
The team was on its way to Senegal for a World Cup qualifier when a Zambian Air Force DHC-5D Buffalo crashed, just 120 seconds after takeoff from Libreville, the first of its two refueling stops required to reach the 3,500 mile flight to Dakar.
Now Faz has lined up a home match against the Warriors to commemorate the disaster known as the biggest tragedy to befall Zambian football. Zifa CEO Gibson Mashingaidze confirmed receiving communication from Faz requesting for a friendly match.
"We are pleased as Zifa to be invited for commemorations to mark the 20th anniversary of the Gabon Disaster. Faz wrote to us with a friendly match request and we will respond to them as soon as possible confirming our interest.
We cannot afford to ignore such an invitation because apart from them being our neighbours, one of the players who perished in that disaster Derby Makinka used to play in Zimbabwe for Darryn T," said Mashingaidze.
It would Pagels' third match at the helm of the Warriors following a 2-1 win over Botswana in another international friendly in February and last month's World Cup Qualifier against Zambia.
The disaster occurred on 27 April 1993 and killed all 18 players, two coaches, a doctor, two FAZ officials, a journalist and five crew members when a military plane plunged into the Atlantic Ocean just a few meters off Gabon's coast.
The team was on its way to Senegal for a World Cup qualifier when a Zambian Air Force DHC-5D Buffalo crashed, just 120 seconds after takeoff from Libreville, the first of its two refueling stops required to reach the 3,500 mile flight to Dakar.
"We are pleased as Zifa to be invited for commemorations to mark the 20th anniversary of the Gabon Disaster. Faz wrote to us with a friendly match request and we will respond to them as soon as possible confirming our interest.
We cannot afford to ignore such an invitation because apart from them being our neighbours, one of the players who perished in that disaster Derby Makinka used to play in Zimbabwe for Darryn T," said Mashingaidze.
It would Pagels' third match at the helm of the Warriors following a 2-1 win over Botswana in another international friendly in February and last month's World Cup Qualifier against Zambia.
Source - supersport
