Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Chilima, along with nine other individuals, has been confirmed dead after their military aircraft went missing on Monday morning. President Lazarus Chakwera announced the tragic news on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The wreckage of the plane carrying the Vice President was found with no survivors, President Chakwera confirmed. Chilima, 51, was traveling to attend the funeral of the country’s former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Ralph Kasambara, who was found dead in a lodge room in Lilongwe on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The aircraft failed to land at its intended destination, Mzuzu Airport in northern Malawi, due to adverse weather conditions. The pilot was advised to return to Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe, but the plane went off the radar around 10 a.m. local time (0800 GMT) on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soldiers searched Chikangawa Forest overnight and into Tuesday morning in a bid to locate the missing plane. In a news briefing, President Chakwera stated that the Malawi Defence Force commander informed him that the search and rescue operation had been completed and the aircraft had been found. “Deeply saddened and sorry” to report the terrible tragedy, Chakwera conveyed his condolences to the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rescue team discovered the aircraft completely destroyed. President Chakwera paid tribute to Chilima, describing him as “a good man,” “devoted father,” and “formidable VP.” He expressed that having Chilima as a deputy and counselor was one of the great honors of his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I consider it one of the great honours of my life to have had him as a deputy and as a counsellor,” he stated, as reported by the BBC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The nation mourns the loss of Vice President Saulos Chilima and the others on board the ill-fated flight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Chilima, along with nine other individuals, has been confirmed dead after their military aircraft went missing on Monday morning. President Lazarus Chakwera announced the tragic news on Tuesday. The wreckage of the plane carrying the Vice President was found with no survivors, President Chakwera confirmed. Chilima, 51, was traveling to attend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\n