There was a shroud of mystery around Monday’s news that a US freight plane carrying a consignment for the South African Reserve Bank was grounded in Zimbabwe, officials finding a dead human body on board.

Well the past two days have done little to dispel said mystery, officials in Harare reportedly unable to nail down exactly how the situation came to be. The plane was loaded with 57 tons of South African Rand (equivalent to roughly 3,6 tons of US Dollars) which has helped the rumour mill go into overdrive.

These details below from IOL:

One of the suspicions which has set tongues wagging in Harare about the extraordinary incident, is that after Zimbabwe officials saw blood dripping from the plane, the US flight engineer put on latex gloves before he opened a door, high on the plane, near the site of the blood and other fluids dripping from the aircraft.

The plane had on board the US captain, the co-pilot, a relief pilot, an engineer and a load master and the two officials from the South African Reserve Bank.

But a reconstruction of the time before the plane landed is now being examined by the Zimbabwe Republic Police.

The US pilot, whose name is not public yet, nor is he known in aviation circles in Zimbabwe as the US freight company had never landed in Harare before, requested emergency landing to refuel after being refused permission in Mozambique.

The US pilot was “vague” about why he needed permission to land in Harare…

Workers from the National Handling Co, according to information in the aviation world in Harare, went to attend to the plane and noticed blood high up on the plane, near the ENA door.

They were allegedly told it was caused by collision with a bird.

But drops of blood were still coming from that door area, and state security officials stationed at the airport insisted it be opened.

“So the engineer from the plane, for some reason put on latex gloves and opened the door which is quite high up the aircraft, and thwack, a fully clothed body of a black man fell out,” said an aviation insider.

It has been reported that there were numerous burns on the man’s head, which could potentially be explained by ducts inside the compartment. There was also no identification on the man’s person and it is not yet known who he is. Some more from the rumour mill:

There are suspicions and speculation in aviation circles in Harare now that the US crew may have tried to dump the body during the flight from Munich, Germany, but could not open the ENA door from inside the aircraft over Mozambique because of pressure, and wanted to refuel in Harare and somehow dump the body after take off from Harare International.

A pathologist’s report may yet take a while, given that Zimbabwe doesn’t have a single qualified pathologist left.

Sounds like this one may yet go on a while so we’ll keep you posted.

[source:iol]