As reports became rife that an Asian plane has gone missing in mid air, and scores of disgruntled Zimbabweans rushing to wish that President Robert Mugabe is in the same aircraft, fears began mounting on where exactly the Head of State is at present.
This reporter set out to attempt locating where exactly Mr Mugabe is.
President Robert Mugabe flew out Zimbabwe on an Asian holiday and it is held due to his long one month stay, he flew private choosing to avoid the official Air Zimbabwe jet he most often charters.
Writing on social networks, Zimbabweans hoped that His Excellency is part of the fate of flight QZ8501. “Dai vaMugabe vakararama vakomana – I wish the President survives,” one Zimbo based in South Africa satirically wrote. Thousand others poured in their emotional comments in near-celebratory mode.
This reporter can however confirm that although the facts at present were not clear, Mr Mugabe cannot have been on the Air Asian flight since he expressed to his office, he is only traveling to rest and will not go beyond one country due to security concerns. This reporter was told by an official in the President’s office that President Robert Mugabe did travel to Singapore. “He went to Singapore for his rest but why do you want to know more than that? It is Singapore and Malaysia chete,” the source said avoiding further questions.
Meanwhile below were the latest facts of the missing jet, as on Sunday morning:
– AirAsia flight QZ8501 bound for Singapore from Surabaya, Indonesia and carrying 162 people on board went missing Sunday morning.
– Contact with the plane was lost around an hour after departure, somewhere over the Java Sea between Belitung island and Pontianak, on Indonesia’s part of Kalimantan island.
– Search and rescue operations have been launched with the Indonesian army as well as Singapore and Malaysia scouring the area around Belitung.
Indonesia air traffic control lost contact with AirAsia flight QZ8501 bound for Singapore from the Indonesian city of Surabaya on Sunday morning.
Search and rescue operations have begun, AirAsia Indonesia said on its Facebook page.
The carrier also released a statement listing 162 people on board, with 138 adults, 16 children and one infant making up 155 passengers along with seven crew members (two pilots, four flight attendants and one engineer).
The nationalities of the passengers and crew onboard include one Singaporean, one Malaysian, one French, three South Koreans and 156 Indonesians. See the full manifest here.
QZ8501 lost contact with Indonesian air traffic control at 7:55am local time, 42 minutes after departure and an hour before it was scheduled to land in Singapore.
Reuters reports that the aircraft was between the Indonesian port of Tanjung Pandan and the town of Pontianak, in West Kalimantan on Borneo island, when it went missing.