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Malawian vice president’s plane missing, search operation underway
An aircraft carrying Malawi's Vice President Saulos Chilima and nine others has gone missing, a statement from the president's office has said.
A military plane carrying Malawi’s Vice President, Saulos Chilima, and nine others went missing on Monday, sparking an immediate search effort, the president’s office said.
The jet, which took off from the capital, Lilongwe, was supposed to land at Mzuzu International Airport, about 370 kilometres (230 miles) to the north, in 45 minutes. Contact with the aircraft was lost after it “went off radar,” according to a statement from President Lazarus Chakwera’s office.
The Malawi Defence Force aircraft was carrying Vice President Chilima, his wife Mary, and several officials from the vice-president’s United Transformation Movement (UTM) party.
The flight was meant to land at Mzuzu International Airport just after 10:00 local time (11:00 BST).
The incident has prompted an intensive search effort, said Malawi’s Information Minister, Moses Kunkuyu, in an interview with the BBC.
Vice President Chilima was en route to represent the government at the funeral of former cabinet minister Ralph Kasambara, who passed away three days prior.
President Chakwera has cancelled his travel to the Bahamas to observe the search and rescue operations.
“All efforts to make contact with the aircraft since it went off radar have failed thus far,” the statement by the president’s office said.
General Valentino Phiri, the head of the Malawian armed forces, informed President Chakwera about the missing plane. The president has directed national and local authorities to “conduct an immediate search and rescue operation to locate the whereabouts of the aircraft,” his office confirmed.
Before his political career, Mr Chilima held significant leadership positions in multinational companies such as Unilever and Coca-Cola.
Saulos Chilima, aged 51, has served as vice president of the southern African nation since 2014. He is married with two children.
“The public will be updated of any developments on the situation as facts are established,” the president’s office assured.
