In the course of the limited peace negotiations which ensued , UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld and 15 others were killed in a plane crash near Ndola , Northern Rhodesia ( now Zambia ) , under questionable circumstances . There is some evidence that suggests the plane was shot down . Hammarskjöld 's death set off a succession crisis at the United Nations , as there was no line of succession and the Security Council had to vote on a successor
in a plane crash
1961 Ndola United Nations DC-6 crash
State of Katanga