Tuesday, June 11, 2024 -Malawi's Vice President Dr. Saulos Chilima and 9 other people including his wife were killed when the plane they were travelling in crashed in the Chikangawa mountain range, the government said Tuesday. President Lazarus Chakwera declared Tuesday a national day of mourning.
"Unfortunately, all on board have
perished in the crash," the Office of the President and Cabinet said in a
Tuesday morning statement. The confirmation came after more than a day-long
search effort in a forested area in the mountains of northern Malawi. The
military plane crashed Monday morning after it took off from the country's
capital Lilongwe.
Chilima, 51, and the other passengers had
been headed to attend the funeral of the country's former attorney general when
their plane dropped off radar. Air traffic officials said the plane had been
unable to land at Mzuzu airport, about 200 miles north of the capital, due to
poor visibility, and the pilot had been advised to return to Lilongwe when the
flight disappeared.
Addressing the nation on Tuesday, Chakwera
said Chilima and his wife, along with seven military officers and another
passenger, were in a a small military plane, said by the Associated Press to
have been a Dornier 228-type twin propeller plane delivered to the Malawian
army in 1988. The AP ascertained that information by cross-referencing the
aircraft's tail number, provided by Chakwera, with data provided by the
ch-aviation website.
Chilima, 51, had been seen in Malawi as a
possible contender for next year's presidential election.
A somewhat controversial figure, he'd been
arrested in 2022 on graft allegations, amid reports that he'd received
kickbacks from a businessman for government contracts.
Chilima consistently denied the charges,
right up until last month, when they were dropped by the national prosecutor,
who filed a notice for the discontinuation of the case.
In a televised national address Monday
night, Chawera told the nation that the search and rescue operation would
continue until Chilima's plane was found.
"I know this is a heart breaking
situation," he said, "and we are all frightened and concerned."
Several countries including the United
States provided technological support in the search operation.
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