Search teams have located the wreckage of a plane carrying Malawian Vice President Saulos Chilima, a military source confirmed on Tuesday, a day after the aircraft went missing in bad weather.
The military aircraft, a Dornier 228-202K of the Malawi Army Air Wing, disappeared on Monday after failing to land in Mzuzu due to poor visibility and being redirected to the capital, Lilongwe. Vice President Chilima, 51, along with nine others, was on board.
Photographs provided to AFP by a member of the military rescue team show army personnel on a foggy slope near debris bearing the plane’s registration number. President Lazarus Chakwera is expected to address the nation regarding the incident, but it remains unclear if there are any survivors.
Rescuers had been scouring a fog-shrouded forest south of Mzuzu, the location of the last tower the plane transmitted to before disappearing. Army commander General Paul Valentino Phiri noted that neighboring countries supported the search effort with helicopters and drones.
The group departed from Lilongwe just after 9:00 am (0700 GMT) on Monday, en route to a funeral for a former cabinet minister in Mzuzu, approximately 370 kilometers (230 miles) away. Among the passengers was Malawi’s former first lady, Shanil Dzimbiri.
Vice President Chilima, first elected in 2014, is a popular and charismatic figure, especially among Malawi’s youth. However, in 2022, during his second term, he was stripped of his powers after being arrested in a bribery scandal. Last month, a Malawian court dropped the charges, allowing him to resume his official duties.
Recent Comments