Bomb threat forces Mnangagwa plane to abort Victoria Falls landing
Mnangagwa jet forced to fly back to Harare
By Staff Reporter
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Falcon 7X plane was on Friday forced to abort landing at Victoria Falls International Airport and immediately turn back to Harare after security had been alerted of a bomb threat at the aviation facility.
Mnangagwa was expected to attend the closing ceremony of a renewable energy conference being held in the resort town.
In a statement presidential spokesperson George Charamba said airport authorities had been made aware of an email sent through Fastjet Airlines by an unknown individual that there had been “credible bomb/firearm threat” targeting Zimbabwean airports.
Charamba added, “As a precaution, the country’s security systems are now on heightened alert following this message whose source and credibility is also being investigated.
“While our country is peaceful, and all our ports are well secured, such alerts on possible terrorist attacks are taken and treated very seriously, as nothing should be left to chance”.
In a related incident, a Kenyan Airways flight from Nairobi was also forced to hold for several minutes at Victoria Falls before diverting to neighbouring Livingstone, Zambia where it landed safely.
