Roy Bennett
© Desmond Kwande/AFP/Getty ImagesRoy Bennett on 9 November 2009 in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Roy Bennett, a prominent Zimbabwean opposition figure, has been killed with his wife in a helicopter crash in the US state of New Mexico.

Local police confirmed Bennett's death on Thursday, a day after a helicopter carrying him and five others went down in a mountainous rural area of northern New Mexico.

Investigators will comb through the charred wreckage in a search for clues as to why the helicopter carrying the group of friends - including an adventurous Texas investor and a pair of decorated pilots - went down after dark. The crash killed five people including Bennett's wife Heather, and injured a sixth who raised the alarm.

In Zimbabwe, Tendai Biti, a prominent opposition leader and a former finance minister, tweeted that the Bennett's "tragic passing" was "a blow to our struggle".

With his fluent Shona, earthy manner and passion for political change, Bennett won a strong following among black Zimbabweans. He was known as "Pachedu," meaning "one of us" in Shona. He was often called the sharpest thorn in the side of former president Robert Mugabe.

The helicopter went down about 6pm on Wednesday about 15 miles (24km) east of the small city of Raton near the Colorado state line.

The injured victim of the crash called 911 after the helicopter went down and authorities launched a search. They said the response was slow because of the rugged terrain and remote area, which has few roads.

Engulfed in flames, the wreckage was spotted on the ranch property east of the small community of Raton. The fire had charred a large area around the crash site.

The crash also killed pilot Jamie Coleman Dodd, 57, of Trinidad, Colorado; co-pilot Paul Cobb, 67, of Conroe, Texas; Charles Ryland Burnett, 61, of Houston.

The only survivor was Andra Cobb, the co-pilot's daughter and Burnett's long-term partner. She was able to escape before the helicopter burst into flames.

In 2004, Bennett was jailed for a year for assaulting a cabinet minister who had said Bennett's "forefathers were thieves and murderers" during a parliamentary debate. An enraged Bennett charged the minister, who fell to the floor.

He emerged from prison rail-thin and scarred from repeated sunburns. He told of the mistreatment of fellow prisoners, some of whom he said had starved to death in their cells.

After receiving death threats, Bennett fled Zimbabwe but returned in 2009 after his party nominated him for the deputy agriculture minister in a coalition government with Mugabe's Zanu-PF. Mugabe, who had repeatedly alleged Bennett was the opposition party's contact with foreign funders, refused to swear him in.

Bennett later returned to South Africa but remained a vocal critic of Mugabe's rule. He also criticized his former party for allegedly enjoying the comforts of government while ordinary Zimbabweans suffered.