19/01/2018

Zimbabwe opposition figure, Roy Bennett and his wife die in US helicopter crash

Zimbabwe opposition figure, Roy Bennett and his wife die in US helicopter crash
Leading Zimbabwean politician Roy Bennett has been killed with his wife in a helicopter crash in North America. The couple died along with three others when the aircraft crashed on Wednesday in a mountainous area in the US state of New Mexico where just one person survived.


Mr Bennett, 60, was a former white farmer who became a stalwart of the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). His MDC party colleagues have been expressing their shock on social media. 

A spokesman for the MDC party, Obert Gutu, later said in a statement that Mr Bennett was a charismatic and extremely popular grassroots politician and a successful commercial farmer. "Roy was a resolute and committed fighter for democratic change in Zimbabwe," Mr Gutu said.  

The private helicopter crashed in north-eastern New Mexico at about 18:00 local time on Wednesday (01:00 GMT Thursday) but the deaths were confirmed by authorities on Thursday.  It is not yet clear what caused the accident.

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