Malawi’s President, Lazarus Chakwera, announced the heartbreaking news of a plane crash that took the lives of the vice president and nine others.
The military aircraft transporting Vice President Saulos Chilima was located in a mountainous region in the country’s north after a lengthy search spanning more than a day.
Chakwera confirmed the devastating loss in a televised address, revealing that there were no survivors.
During its 45-minute flight from Lilongwe to Mzuzu, the aircraft, carrying a former first lady and other passengers, vanished despite being cautioned by air traffic controllers against landing at Mzuzu’s airport due to inclement weather and low visibility.
Directed to return to Lilongwe, the plane lost contact and disappeared from radar.
Seven passengers and three military crew members were aboard the aircraft, described by the president as a small, propeller-driven plane operated by the Malawian armed forces.
According to the ch-aviation website, which tracks aircraft information, the tail number provided indicates it is a Dornier 228-type twin-propeller plane delivered to the Malawian army in 1988.
Approximately 600 personnel participated in the search, spanning a vast forest plantation in the Viphya Mountains near Mzuzu, authorities confirmed.
Chilima, in his second term as vice president, previously served from 2014 to 2019 under former President Peter Mutharika.
He contested the 2019 Malawian presidential election, finishing third behind the incumbents, Mutharika and Chakwera.
However, the vote was later annulled by Malawi’s Constitutional Court due to irregularities.
In a historic turn of events in Africa, Chilima teamed up with Chakwera for a landmark election rerun in 2020, resulting in Chakwera’s presidency.
This marked the first instance where a court-mandated election redo led to the incumbent president’s ousting.
Previously embroiled in corruption allegations involving alleged bribes for influencing government procurement contracts for the Malawi armed forces and police, Chilima saw the charges dropped by prosecutors just last month.
Despite vehemently denying the accusations, the case stirred criticism against Chakwera’s administration for what some perceived as a lax stance on corruption.
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