ZAPU forces strategically weakened the Rhodesian government during the Bush War . The most widely reported and possibly the most effective of these attacks were the downing of two Air Rhodesia Vickers Viscount civilian passenger planes with surface-to-air missiles . The first , on 3 September 1978 , killed 38 out of 56 in the crash with a further ten survivors ( including children ) shot dead by ZIPRA cadres sent to inspect the burnt wreckage . Nkomo later dismissed the massacre as false allegations perpetrated by the Rhodesian media and expressed his regret at the downing of a civilian plane , but defended the act by citing that the Rhodesian government was known to transport military personnel aboard civilian liners . The eight remaining survivors are said to have managed to elude the guerrillas and walked 20 km into Kariba from where the flight had taken off ( it was heading for Salisbury , Rhodesia 's capital , now renamed Harare ) . Some of the passengers had serious injuries and they were picked up by local police and debriefed by the Rhodesian army
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Air Rhodesia Flight 825
Joshua Nkomo