Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera announced on Tuesday that there were no survivors from a plane crash involving Vice President Saulos Chilima and nine others.
“The plane has been found, and I am deeply saddened to inform you all, it has turned out to be a terrible tragedy,” Chakwera stated in a televised address.
Search teams in Malawi located the wreckage of the aircraft carrying Vice President Saulos Chilima a day after it went missing due to bad weather, according to a military source.
The military plane carrying Chilima, 51, and nine others went missing on Monday after it failed to land in Mzuzu, a city in the north, due to poor visibility. The plane was instructed to return to the capital, Lilongwe, but lost contact.
Photographs provided by a member of the military rescue team showed soldiers standing on a foggy slope near debris marked with the registration number of the Malawi Army Air Wing Dornier 228-202K aircraft.
President Lazarus Chakwera was scheduled to address the nation. At that time, it was not immediately clear if there were any survivors.
Rescuers had been searching a foggy forest south of Mzuzu on Tuesday after identifying the last transmission from the plane.
Earlier, General Paul Valentino Phiri, the army commander, mentioned that neighboring countries were assisting with the search efforts, providing helicopters and drones.
The group departed from Lilongwe at around 9:00 am (0700 GMT) on Monday to attend the funeral of a former cabinet minister in Mzuzu, about 370 kilometers (230 miles) away.
Also on board was Malawi’s former first lady, Shanil Dzimbiri.
First elected as vice president in 2014, Chilima, known for his charisma and stern demeanor, was a popular figure in Malawi, especially among the youth.
However, in 2022, during his second term, Chilima was stripped of his powers following his arrest on bribery charges linked to a British-Malawian businessman. Last month, a Malawian court dropped the charges, and he resumed his official duties.
