BLANTYRE – Monday June 10: Authorities in Malawi said search and rescue operations will continue until the missing aircraft carrying the country’s vice president, Saulos Klaus Chilima, is found.
Chilima, 51, was aboard a military aircraft with nine others that left Lilongwe, the capital, at 09:17 a.m. (0717 GMT), Malawi’s Office of the President and Cabinet said in an earlier statement.
Mr Chilima was on his way to represent the government at the burial of former cabinet minister Ralph Kasambara, who died three days ago.
It said efforts by aviation authorities to make contact with the aircraft since it went off the radar had failed. The plane had been scheduled to land at Mzuzu Airport at 10:02 a.m.
The plane was unable to land at the airport due to poor visibility and was ordered to return to the capital, President Lazarus Chakwera said in a televised address to the nation.
“Soldiers are still on the ground carrying out the search and I have given strict orders that the operation should continue until the plane is found,” he said, adding that it was a “heart-breaking situation”. Chakwera said, adding that the search area was concentrated around a 10 km (6 mile) radius in a forest reserve. “I have given strict orders that the operation should continue until the plane is found. I’m holding on to every fibre of hope that we’ll find survivors,”
He said Malawi had reached out to neighbouring countries, and the U.S., Britain, Norway and the Israeli governments for support in the rescue efforts.
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 corruption charges against him last month after the director of public prosecutions filed a notice for the case to be discontinued. Chilima has denied any wrongdoing.