Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera says there was no survivor in a plane carrying Vice President Saulos Chilima and nine others which crashed on Monday, June 10, 2024.

“The plane has been found and I am deeply saddened and sorry to inform you all, it has turned out to be a terrible tragedy,” Chakwera said in a televised address on Tuesday.

The military had earlier said the airplane may have crashed in a dense forest.

Top military official Paul Valentino Phiri told reporters that search and rescue operations had been hampered by foggy weather around the Chikangawa Forest which was affecting visibility.

Military plane carrying Malawi’s VP, others goes missing

Chilima, 51, was aboard a military aircraft with nine others that left Lilongwe, the capital, at 09:17 a.m. (0717 GMT) on Monday.

The plane had been scheduled to land at Mzuzu airport at 10:02 a.m. but was unable to land due to poor visibility and was ordered to return to the capital, President Lazarus Chakwera said in a televised address to the nation on Monday.

Aviation authorities had failed to make contact with the aircraft since it went off the radar, according to Reuters.

Malawi’s information minister said the country had asked Angola’s space agency for help finding the plane.

Chilima, seen as a potential candidate in next year’s presidential election, was arrested in 2022 over graft allegations.

However, a Malawi court dropped the charges against him last month after the director of public prosecutions filed a notice for the case to be discontinued. Chilima has denied wrongdoing.

The Star