The seed distribution programme (mainly maize, sorghum and soya beans) had started off well in September, the plan being to assist some 100,000 displaced civilians in the provinces of Huambo and Bié, but the work was interrupted by a tragic plane crash on 14 October. The aircraft was a Hercules transport plane chartered by the ICRC in Switzerland, and it crashed soon after take-off, about 40 km from Kuito. There were no survivors among the four crew members—two Irish, Dorian Shone, the Captain, and Kevin Tocknell; one British, Nicholas Duff; and one New Zealander, Gary Heap—or among the passengers—one Angolan, Nuno Ferreira, and the Swiss secretary of the ICRC delegation in Kuito, Miss Catherine Chappuis.