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.



- LIB