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LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Former President Lazarus Chakwera government’s commission of Inquiry report into the Chikangawa plane crash that killed Vice President Dr. Saulos Klaus Chilima and eight others heard that investigators were limited in their ability to rule out medical conditions that could have caused in-flight impairment.
This is contained in the part of the report exclusively from page 62 of 132.
According to the report, pathologists informed the Commission that access to normal medical records would be necessary to confirm any pre-existing conditions that might have contributed to the accident.
Both pathologists told the Commission that specimens for toxicological assessment were not done because the bodies had no blood or urine to sample at the time of autopsy.
Tissue from the eye, vitreous fluid, of one crew member was obtained and preserved and can potentially be used for toxicological assessment.
This specimen has been preserved at the Kamuzu Central Hospital Laboratory, offering one of the few remaining avenues for chemical analysis.
Dr. Charles Kamiza confirmed that tissue was kept only from one crew member, despite his listing on injuries on the other pilot stating that he had lost only one eye.
He gave the opinion that probably both eyes were lost, and he recorded the injury list wrongly, raising questions about the accuracy of initial post-mortem documentation.
Dr. Kamiza told the Commission that although he could not rule out intoxication by way of toxicological investigations, he did not feel the crew would be intoxicated as they were military officials, and they were flying a Vice President.
He said he would not expect them to be intoxicated under those circumstances, and this possibility was pushed aside during the early stages of the inquiry.
Nonetheless he instructed the mortician to keep the sample, in case further investigations may be needed, ensuring that the option for future testing remained open.
At the time of the autopsy, there was minimal communication with the Civil Aviation Authorities on specific specimens that would be required for analysis.
Dr. Brighton Tomoka also told the Commission that the sample preserved, if sent to a laboratory in South Africa, the results could be back in three to four weeks.
In view of the time lag between the accident and the time of sample collection, the results obtained for any toxicological assessments are not likely to be adversely affected.
The testimony underscored the challenges facing Malawi’s aviation accident investigation system, particularly in coordinating between medical, forensic, and aviation authorities.
It also highlighted the importance of preserving biological samples even when immediate analysis is not possible, as they may become critical to determining cause and responsibility.
