Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Chilima has been killed in a plane crash along with nine other passengers, the country’s President Lazarus Chakwera announced Tuesday.
The aircraft went missing after it failed to land at the Mzuzu International Airport, about 380 km (240 miles) to the north of the capital Lilongwe. The wreckage of the plane has been located, Chakwera said in an address to the nation.
“The search and rescue operation I ordered to find the missing plane that carried our vice president and nine others has been completed. The plane has been found. And I am deeply saddened and sorry to inform you that it has turned out to be a terrible tragedy,” Chakwera said.
“His passing is a terrible loss to his wife, Mary, his family, his friends, his colleagues in the cabinet and to all of us as a nation,” Chakwera said in his address from the Malawian capital. The president also mourned the loss of the other passengers onboard.
The Malawian leader highlighted the tragic nature of the accident, telling journalists that he had himself previously traveled on the same aircraft.
“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,” he added.
On Monday evening, the president had told journalists that air traffic control had advised the vice president’s plane against trying to land, and recommended turning back to the capital due to poor visibility. Not long after, the authorities lost contact with the aircraft, and started a search operation.
