Africa
The vice president of Malawi, Saulos Chilima and nine others have been confirmed dead in a plane crash.
President of the country, Lazarus Chakwera, confirmed the news on Tuesday.
“The wreckage of the missing Malawian vice president’s plan has been found after it crashed in a forest. VP Soulos Chilima and all nine other passengers were linked on impact,” he said.
Chakwera defended the safety record of the Dornier 228 which crashed and killed his deputy and 9 others on Monday, saying he had also used the 34-year-old aircraft.
“Despite the track record and the experience of the crew, something terribly went wrong”.
An earlier statement from the Office of the President and Cabinet said Chilima, 51, was aboard a military aircraft with nine others that left Lilongwe, the capital, at 09:17 a.m. (0717 GMT).
The statement said efforts by Malawian aviation authorities to track the aircraft since it derailed from the radar had failed. The plane had been scheduled to land at Mzuzu Airport at 10:02 a.m.
Trouble started when the plane was unable to land at the airport due to poor visibility and was ordered to return to the capital, the president explained in a televised address to the nation.
According to sources, the late vice president boarded the army aircraft on the trip to attend the funeral of a prominent lawyer.
DailyAgent learnt that the incident happened at a time when the vice president and the president whereby he would hand over to the vice president in 2025 as part of a coalition government in the country.
