Military Aircraft With Malawi’s Vice President Goes Missing

A military aircraft carrying Malawi’s vice president Saulos Chilima has gone missing. Malawi officially the Republic of Malawi and formerly known as Nyasaland, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa.

“I know that this is a heartbreaking situation… but I want to assure you that I am sparing no available resource to find that plane and I am holding on to every fibre of hope that we will find survivors,” the president of Malawi, Lazarus Chakwera said on Monday.

The military plane took off just after 9:00 am (0700 GMT) with 51-year-old Chilima and nine others as it failed to land due to bad weather, said the president of the country in a televised address to the nation.

Malawi’s former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri (Muluzi) was also on board the missing plane.

The group was on their way from the capital Lilongwe to the city of Mzuzu to attend the funeral of a former cabinet minister.

After arriving in Mzuzu the pilot was unable to land the plane due to poor visibility and bad weather. The aviation authorities advised their aircraft to return to Lilongwe. But after some time all contacts with the plane were lost.

Chakwera said he had already contacted the governments of various countries including the US, Britain, Norway and Israel, who had all offered support “in different capacities”.

Soldiers are said to be looking for the missing aircraft with torches and on foot, according to local media reports.

Various unconfirmed reports have circulated that eye witnesses saw a plane crashing into the forest earlier on Monday.

Chakwera has cancelled a visit to the Bahamas after this incident.