Zambia Honours Gabon 1993 Crash Heroes

The 27th anniversary of the Gabon Air crash was marked today at 1993 Heroes Acre in Lusaka with a controlled low key ceremony.

Families of the 30 victims, who perished in the air crash in the Atlantic Ocean after taking off from Libreville on the night on April 27, 1993 en route to Dakar, Senegal, were joined by officials at the space-out ceremony adjacent to Independence Stadium in Lusaka on April 28.

Coronavirus social distancing guidelines were observed with laying of wreaths restricted to respective representatives.

The team died on its way for a 1994 USA FIFA World Cup qualifier against Senegal.

FAZ president Andrew Kamanga said the onus was on FAZ to finally honour the team with a debut FIFA World Cup qualification in the 2022 Qatar penultimate round, group stage qualifiers that are scheduled to begin for this October.

“Every journey to this Acre always re-enforces our desire to push our game further. These men paid the ultimate price in pursuit of the nation’s football glory. It is our hope that we will repay their sacrifice by doing our best to improve our game and achieve their ultimate dream of World Cup qualification,” Kamanga said.

And Zambia coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic was also in attendance in what was his first official memorial engagement following his appointment in February.

“Every time when we put on a Zambian jersey, we need to know that people have laid down their lives for Zambia; and with such a spirit, we should enter every match knowing who we are, what we want, and what we are capable of doing with such an approach. With the quality of Zambian players we can go very far,” Micho said.