Vice President of Zambia survives helicopter crush moments after takeoff

Zambian Vice President Mutale Nalumango, 71, survived a helicopter crash today alongside seven other people, walking away unharmed after the aircraft came down just moments after takeoff.

She had been leaving a campaign rally in the northeastern town of Nakonde, in Muchinga Province, when it happened.

After we lifted off, I don't know whether it was a minute or two, and then we came down, she told Diamond TV, showing no signs of injury. We were eight and all of us are fine.

The helicopter was badly damaged. The cause is not yet known, and Zambia's Civil Aviation Authority will investigate.

Nalumango was taken for a routine medical check and discharged in good health, the government confirmed.

The timing makes this more than a lucky escape.

Zambia votes on August 13, with President Hakainde Hichilema seeking a second term, and Nalumango was on the campaign trail when the crash happened.

It also lands against an uneasy backdrop.

Back in April, false rumors of a Nalumango helicopter crash and an arranged assassination circulated on social media, which her office angrily dismissed as opposition propaganda. Now a real crash has happened, and those old whispers will inevitably resurface.

There is a heavier shadow here too. Just last year, Malawi's Vice President Saulos Chilima died with eight others when his aircraft went down.

On this continent, a downed aircraft carrying a senior leader is never treated as routine, and history explains exactly why.