Malawian Vice President, nine others missing as plane disappears

A Malawi Defense Force aircraft carrying Vice President Saulos Chilima and nine others has gone missing, the country’s presidency announced on Monday.

In an official statement seen by local outlets, Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Colleen Zamba, reported that the plane carrying the passengers, including the Vice President, which departed from the capital, Lilongwe, at 9:17 am, failed to land at its scheduled destination, Mzuzu International Airport, at 10:02 am. Efforts by aviation authorities to establish contact with the aircraft have been unsuccessful.

“As such, the Commander of the Malawi Defence Forces, Gen Valentino Phiri, has since informed His Excellency Dr. Lazarus Chakwera of the incident, and the president has since cancelled his departures for the Bahamas,” Zamba stated.

President Chakwera has directed all regional and national agencies to initiate an immediate search and rescue operation to determine the aircraft’s whereabouts. “The public will be updated on any developments as facts are established,” Zamba assured.

The BBC reports that the cause of the aircraft’s disappearance is not yet known, but efforts to find the aircraft are “intensive”.
Vice president Mr Chilima was on his way to represent the government at the burial of former cabinet minister Ralph Kasambara, who died three days ago. Mr Chilima, aged 51, has been Malawi’s vice president since 2014.