Voice Air Media, VAM News Update
THE wreck of a plane carrying Saulos Chilima, Malawi’s vice-president, has been found with no survivors.
President Lazarus Chakwera made the grim announcement in a press briefing on Tuesday.
The aircraft which had the 51-year-old vice-president and nine others aboard went missing after it failed to land at the Mzuzu International Airport in Lilongwe, the capital.
Chilima was on his way to represent the government at the burial of Ralph Kasambara, former minister, who died four days ago.
Shanil Dzimbiri, former first lady, was also on the flight.
The plane, which flew in bad weather, was turned back from landing at the airport because of poor visibility.
After receiving the news of the missing plane on Monday, Chakwera cancelled a trip to the Bahamas and ordered national and local authorities to “conduct an immediate search and rescue operation to locate the whereabouts of the aircraft”.
“The search and rescue operation I ordered to find the missing plane that carried our vice president and nine others has been completed,” the president said while providing an update.
“The plane has been found. I am deeply saddened and sorry to inform you that it has turned out to be a terrible tragedy.”
The president said the rescue team found the aircraft completely destroyed.
Chilima had been vice-president of Malawi since 2014.
Despite coming from two different political parties, the vice-president and president teamed up to form an alliance during the 2020 elections.
The vice-president left behind a wife and two children.