The president of Malawi announced on Tuesday that Saulos Chilima, the vice president of the country, had perished in an aircraft crash. The wreckage of the aircraft was discovered in a misted forest.
Due to poor weather, the military aircraft carrying Chilima, 51, and nine other people was unable to land in the northern city of Mzuzu and was instructed to return to the capital, Lilongwe. The jet vanished on Monday.
Lazarus Chakwera, the president of Malawi, addressed the people, saying, “The search and rescue team has found the aircraft… completely destroyed with no survivors, as all passengers on board were killed on impact.”
“Words cannot describe how heartbreaking this is,” he said, describing the accident as a “terrible tragedy.”
Photographs shared with AFP by a member of the military rescue team showed army personnel standing on a foggy slope near debris bearing the registration number of the Malawi Army Air Wing Dornier 228-202K aircraft.
Rescuers had been combing a fog-cloaked forest south of Mzuzu on Tuesday, after authorities located the last tower it transmitted to before the plane disappeared.
Earlier, army commander General Paul Valentino Phiri said other countries, including Malawi’s neighbours, had been aiding the search effort, with support including helicopters and drones.
The group departed just after 9:00 am (0700 GMT) from Lilongwe on Monday to attend the funeral of a former cabinet minister some 370 kilometres (230 miles) away in Mzuzu.
Malawi’s former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri was also on board.
Widely loved
Chakwera said he had previously flown on the same aircraft for similar trips. The crew had successfully operated it just hours before the accident, he added.
“And yet, despite the track record of the aircraft and the experience of the crew, something terrible went wrong with that aircraft on its flight back to Lilongwe, sending it crashing down,” he said.
First elected vice president in 2014, the charismatic yet stern-talking Chilima was a widely loved figure in Malawi, particularly among young people.
However, Chilima lost his position in 2022, during his second term in office, after being detained and accused of graft in connection with a British-Malawian businessman’s bribery scheme.
He returned to his official activities after a Malawian court dropped the allegations against him last month.
“Chilima was a good man, a devoted father and husband, a patriotic citizen who served his country with distinction and a formidable vice president,” Chakwera stated.
“I consider it one of the greatest honours of my life to have had him as my deputy and counsellor for the past four years.”
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