Investigators to meet witnesses to plane crash that killed former UN chief

The Independent Panel of Experts, appointed by the Secretary-General to assess new information related to the death of former Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold, will meet with witnesses to the final stages of the flight that crashed in Zambia in 1961, a UN spokesman said on Monday.

The panel, which has arrived in Zambia over the weekend, will meet with witnesses to the final stages of the flight that crashed over Ndola on the night of September 17-18, 1961, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily briefing here.

The plane in which Hammarskjold and his staff were traveling crashed near the town of Ndola, while the then UN secretary- general was trying to broker a peace deal between the Congolese government in Kinshasa and separatists in the mineral-rich southern province of Katanga.

"The panel has been tasked to examine and assess the probative value of new information related to the death of former Secretary- General Dag Hammarksjold and of the members of the party accompanying him," Dujarric said.

The spokesman did not say what kind of new information is now available.

However, The Guardian reported that new evidence includes the testimony of local people that was downplayed or ignored in the original investigation report.

So far, there are various versions as to what happened.

Some argued that the plane was shot down by mercenaries fighting for Katanga. Others pointed to the possibility a second plane had been close to the UN aircraft, according to media reports.

Right after the crash, the British colonial authorities in Rhodesia penned a report in 1962 blaming the crash on pilot error but offered no proof.

The panel will report back to the Secretary-General before the end of June. The Secretary-General will update the General Assembly during the 70th session and the General Assembly will then determine what, if any, further action will be taken, Dujarric said.