33-776: The Dag Hammarskjöld Memorial Crash Site marks the place of the plane crash in which Dag Hammarskjöld , the second and then-sitting Secretary-General of the United Nations was killed on 17 September 1961, while on a mission to the Léopoldville Congo Republic (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo ). The site is located 10 km west of Ndola , in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia . The Dag Hammarskjöld Crash Site
66-534: A Fouga CM.170 Magister was the aircraft most likely involved, and the website Belgian Wings claims that van Risseghem piloted Magisters for the KAF in 1961. Another article was published by The Guardian in January 2019 repeating the allegations against van Risseghem and citing further evidence uncovered by the producers of the documentary Cold Case Hammarskjöld , including refutations of van Risseghem's alibi that he
99-429: A 2005 interview, Norwegian army major general Bjørn Egge , who had been the first UN officer to see Hammarskjöld's body, claimed that Hammarskjöld had a hole in his forehead and that the hole was subsequently airbrushed from postmortem photos. Egge believed that Hammarskjöld had been thrown from the plane and that grass and leaves in his hands might indicate that he had survived the crash and tried to scramble away from
132-512: A day of national mourning." The crash was featured by the Canadian documentary series Mayday in a Season 15, Episode 5 titled "Deadly Mission" and Air Crash Investigation Special Report in a Season 3, Episode 3 titled "VIP on Board". The crash is featured in the 2016 film The Siege of Jadotville , where it is shot down by an F-4 Phantom fighter jet . Lieutenant colonel Too Many Requests If you report this error to
165-408: A fire can penetrate a human body." He based his statement on a large-scale experiment that had been conducted to determine whether military fire brigades would be in danger working near munitions depots. Other experts conducted and filmed tests showing that bullets heated to the point of explosion did not achieve sufficient velocity to penetrate the containers in which they were stored. The day after
198-553: A pilot's commentary in the air over Ndola, 5,300 km (3,300 mi) away. Southall recalled the pilot saying: "I see a transport plane coming low. All the lights are on. I'm going down to make a run on it. Yes, it is the Transair DC-6. It's the plane," adding that the pilot's voice was "cool and professional." Southall then heard the sound of gunfire and the pilot exclaiming: "I've hit it. There are flames! It's going down. It's crashing!" Based on Katangese Air Force records,
231-484: A series of hearings in 1962 and depended partly upon the testimony from the previous Rhodesian inquiries. Five "eminent persons" were assigned by the new secretary-general to the UN commission. The members of the commission unanimously elected Nepalese diplomat Rishikesh Shah to head an inquiry. The three official inquiries failed to conclusively determine the cause. The Rhodesian Board of Investigation sent 180 men to search
264-399: A six-square-kilometer area of the last sector of the aircraft's flight path, but no evidence of a bomb, surface-to-air missile or hijacking was found. The official report stated that two of the dead Swedish bodyguards had suffered multiple bullet wounds. However, medical examination performed by the initial Rhodesian Board of Investigation and reported in the UN official report indicated that
297-596: Is under consideration for inclusion as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A press release issued by the prime minister of the Republic of the Congo stated that "... in order to pay a tribute to this great man, now vanished from the scene, and to his colleagues, all of whom have fallen victim to the shameless intrigues of the great financial Powers of the West... the Government has decided to proclaim Tuesday, 19 September 1961,
330-415: The 2000s, Hammarskjöld's plane was downed by another aircraft. Björkdahl reviewed previously unavailable archive documents and internal UN communications and believed that the plane was intentionally downed for the benefit of mining companies such as Union Minière . In 2011, the book Who Killed Hammarskjold? by Susan Williams outlined several doubts about the accidental nature of the crash. It led to
363-499: The Congolese transition from colonial rule to independence. Concerns about the nationalisation of the copper industry could have provided a financial incentive to remove either Lumumba or Hammarskjöld. The official inquiry has come under scrutiny and criticism from some historians who claim that some of the official determinations were issued in order to deflect attention on the assassination angle and that evidence of assassination
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#1732780219874396-754: The Dag Hammarskjöld memorial access road off the Ndola-Kitwe Dual Carriageway , just south of the Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport . Göran Björkdahl interviewed several witnesses around the crash site in the 2000s and studied archival documents related to the Katanga crisis. He wrote in 2011 that he believed Dag Hammarskjöld 's death was a murder committed in part to benefit mining companies such as Union Minière . This site
429-400: The United Nations stated that a bright flash in the sky was seen at approximately 01:00 that resulted in the initiation of search-and-rescue operations. Initial indications that the crash might not have been an accident led to multiple official inquiries and persistent speculation that the secretary-general was assassinated. Following the death of Hammarskjöld, there were three inquiries into
462-755: The circumstances that led to the crash: the Rhodesian Board of Investigation, the Rhodesian Commission of Inquiry and the United Nations Commission of Investigation. The Rhodesian Board of Investigation investigated between 19 September 1961 and 2 November 1961 under the command of Lt. Colonel M.C.B. Barber . The Rhodesian Commission of Inquiry, under the chairmanship of Sir John Clayden , held hearings from 16 to 29 January 1962 without United Nations oversight. The subsequent United Nations Commission of Investigation held
495-437: The crash were inconsistent. The report states that there were three separate delays that violated established search-and-rescue procedures. The first delayed the initial alarm of a possible plane in trouble; the second delayed the "distress" alarm, which indicates that communications with surrounding airports indicate that a missing plane has not landed elsewhere; and the third delayed the eventual search-and-rescue operation and
528-470: The crash, former U.S. president Harry Truman commented that Hammarskjöld "was on the point of getting something done when they killed him. Notice that I said 'when they killed him'." On 19 August 1998, archbishop Desmond Tutu , chairman of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), stated that recently uncovered letters had implicated MI5 , the CIA and South African intelligence services in
561-449: The crash. One TRC letter said that a bomb in the aircraft's wheel bay was set to detonate when the wheels descended for landing. However, Tutu's commission were unable to investigate the truth of the letters or the allegations that South African or Western intelligence agencies played a role in the crash. The British Foreign Office suggested that the letters may have been created as means of Soviet misinformation or disinformation . In
594-401: The crash. The UN report speculated that these flashes may have been caused by secondary explosions after the crash. Sergeant Harold Julien, who initially survived the crash but died five days later, indicated that there was a series of explosions that preceded the crash. The official inquiry found that the statements of witnesses who talked with Julien before he died in hospital five days after
627-531: The deaths of all people on board, including Dag Hammarskjöld , the second secretary-general of the United Nations , and 15 others. Hammarskjöld had been en route to ceasefire negotiations with Moïse Tshombe during the Congo Crisis . Three official inquiries failed to conclusively determine the cause. Some historians and military experts like Susan Williams have criticized the official inquiries, pointing to evidence of foul play that had been omitted from
660-541: The discovery of the plane wreckage nearby. The medical examiner's report was inconclusive; one report said that Hammarskjöld had died on impact but another stated that he might have survived had rescue operations not been delayed. The report also concluded that the probability of Sgt. Julien surviving the crash would have been "infinitely" better had the rescue operations had been quicker. On 16 March 2015, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon appointed members to an independent panel of experts to examine new information. The panel
693-639: The formation of an independent, unofficial commission headed by the British jurist Stephen Sedley in 2012 to determine whether there was new evidence that would justify the UN reopening its 1962 inquiry. The Sedley commission's report was presented on 9 September 2013 at the Peace Palace in The Hague. It recommended that the UN reopen its inquiry "pursuant to General Assembly resolution 1759 (XVII) of 26 October 1962." In March 2015, Mohamed Chande Othman
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#1732780219874726-684: The inquiries. Hammarskjöld's death caused a succession crisis at the United Nations when the Security Council was tasked with selecting his successor . The aircraft was a Douglas DC-6B , c/n 43559/251, registered in Sweden as SE-BDY, first flown in 1952 and powered by four Pratt & Whitney R-2800 18-cylinder radial piston engines. It was flown by captain Per Hallonquist (35), first officer Lars Litton (29) and flight engineer Nils Göran Wilhelmsson. A special report issued by
759-565: The time of Hammarskjöld's death, the Central Intelligence Agency and other Western agencies were allegedly involved in the political situation in the Congo, which culminated in Belgian and American support for the secession of Katanga and the assassination of former prime minister Patrice Lumumba . The Belgian government had a vested interest in maintaining its control over much of the country's copper industry during
792-417: The wounds were superficial and that the bullets showed no signs of rifling . The report concluded that cartridges had exploded in the fire in proximity to the bodyguards. The Rhodesian board concluded that the pilot flew too low and struck trees, thereby bringing the aircraft to the ground. Previous accounts of a bright flash in the sky were dismissed as having occurred too late in the evening to have caused
825-629: The wreckage. However, Egge did not claim that the hole in Hammarskjöld's head was the result of a gunshot wound. In a speech to the UN General Assembly on 23 September 2009, Muammar Gaddafi demanded that Libyan UNGA president Ali Treki launch an investigation into crash as well as the death of Congolese prime minister Patrice Lumumba , who was overthrown in 1960 and murdered the following year. According to numerous witnesses interviewed by Swedish aid worker Göran Björkdahl in
858-625: Was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on 11 June 1997 in the Cultural category. 12°58′29″S 28°31′22″E / 12.97485°S 28.52268°E / -12.97485; 28.52268 1961 Ndola United Nations DC-6 crash Other major events On 18 September 1961, a DC-6 passenger aircraft of Transair Sweden operating for the United Nations crashed near Ndola , Northern Rhodesia (present-day Zambia ). The crash resulted in
891-624: Was already on fire as it landed and that other jet aircraft and intelligence agents were nearby. A new report, issued in October 2024, highlighted that some Member States released new information to UN investigators. However “specific and crucial” information related to the crash and surrounding circumstances continues to be withheld by a handful of governments. Despite the multiple official inquiries that failed to find evidence of assassination or other forms of foul play, several people have continued to advance theories involving hostile interests. At
924-563: Was appointed to support the UN's ongoing Hammarskjöld Commission. In April 2014, the Guardian published evidence implicating military pilot Jan van Risseghem, who was Moise Tshombe 's pilot in Katanga. The article claimed that American NSA employee Charles Southall, working at the NSA listening station in Cyprus in 1961 shortly after midnight on the night of the crash, heard an intercept of
957-424: Was constructed and official opened at the site in 1981. The museum exhibits some remains of the tragic accident. The museum is also used for collecting materials and books on the life of Dag Hammarskjöld and the role of the United Nations. A road was built to the crash site, and a memorial was constructed, after Zambia gained its independence in 1964. The memorial is located 10 km west-north-west of Ndola on
990-564: Was declared a national monument under notice number 14 of 1970 as a historical landmark. In 1964 the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation Committee was formed to ensure that the memory of this world statesman lives forever in the country where he met his tragedy. At the Crash site a memorial garden was established with a cairn at the centre and a lawn around it with a belt of shrubs and trees on the outer circle. A museum
1023-423: Was dismissed. Critics have assailed the conclusion that the bullet wounds found in some victims could have been caused by ammunition exploding in a fire, as some expert tests have determined that exploding bullets could not break the surface of the skin. Major C. F. Westell, a ballistics authority, said, "I can certainly describe as sheer nonsense the statement that cartridges of machine guns or pistols detonated in
Dag Hammarskjöld Crash Site Memorial - Misplaced Pages Continue
1056-622: Was led by Mohamed Chande Othman (the Chief Justice of Tanzania ) and also included Kerryn Macaulay (Australia's representative to ICAO) and Henrik Larsen (a ballistics expert from the Danish National Police ). The report was delivered to the secretary-general on 12 June 2015. The panel's 99-page report, released on 6 July 2015, assigned "moderate" value to nine new eyewitness accounts and transcripts of radio transmissions. Those accounts suggested that Hammarskjöld's plane
1089-514: Was not flying at the time of the crash. In December 2018, the German freelance historian Torben Gülstorff published an article in the Lobster magazine arguing that a German Dornier DO-28A may have been used for the attack. The plane was delivered to Katanga by end of August 1961 and would have been technically capable of accomplishing the shootdown. The Dag Hammarskjöld Crash Site Memorial
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