Plane crash in Zimbabwe was just a drill

06.08.10

There were chaotic scenes at Harare International Airport today after a safety drill was reported by the head of country's Civil Aviation Authority as a real accident involving a plane arriving from London.

David Chawota, Zimbabwe's CAA boss, initially told reporters that a plane arriving from London had been involved in an accident at the airport. But a spokeswoman later told the BBC it was a drill, distressed ‘relatives’ were ‘actors’ and the inaccurate press briefings were part of the exercise !

When reports of an incident surfaced, Mr Chawota told the AFP news agency: ‘I can confirm that a Boeing 767 plane coming from London has had an accident at Harare airport.' He told Reuters: 'There has been an accident, but I cannot give details as I am not at the site. There are just injuries, no deaths.’

But at a press conference later he said the misinformation was part of the exercise ! He said: ‘Telling the media was part of the drill. We wanted to see how the media would react. The drill was a success; all our systems worked perfectly. Police, security and hospital staff reacted swiftly.’

We will leave it to you to decide whether you believe him....

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