Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera has shared sad news that a plane carrying Vice President Saulos Chilima and nine other people has crashed with no survivors.
The military plane went missing from airport radars on Monday morning while flying in bad weather conditions.
Soldiers searched Chikangawa Forest to try and find the plane.
In a news briefing on Tuesday, President Chakwera said the Malawi Defence Force commander told him that the search and rescue mission had ended and the crashed plane was found.
Mr. Chakwera expressed his deep sadness and sorrow as he informed Malawians about this terrible tragedy.
He mentioned that the rescue team discovered the aircraft completely destroyed.
Although the vice president and president are from different political parties, they joined forces and formed an alliance during the 2020 elections.
Dr. Chilima, aged 51, was on his way to represent the government at the funeral of former government minister Ralph Kasambara, who passed away four days ago.
Former First Lady Shanil Dzimbiri was also on the flight, which departed from the capital city of Lilongwe on Monday morning.
The plane was supposed to land at the airport in the northern city of Mzuzu but had to turn back due to poor visibility.
Dr. Chilima had been serving as Malawi’s vice president since 2014.
He was widely admired in Malawi, especially among young people, according to AFP news agency.
However, in 2022, Dr. Chilima was arrested and faced charges of accepting money in exchange for granting government contracts.
Last month, the court dismissed the charges without providing any explanation for the decision.
Dr. Chilima is survived by his wife and two children.
Source: BBC
