President Lazarus Chakwera has said that the military aircraft carrying the Vice President of Malawi has been found with no survivor.
The plane, a Malawi defence force aircraft, went off the radar and lost contact with aviation authorities on Monday morning, as it was flying in bad weather whereby Dr. Saulos Chilima and nine others were flying within the country.
In a media briefing on Tuesday, President Chakwera said the Malawi Defence Force commander informed him that the search and rescue operation had been completed and the plane had been found.
President Chakwera said he was deeply saddened and sorry to inform Malawians of the terrible tragedy.
He said the rescue team found the aircraft completely destroyed.
The vice president and president come from different parties, but the two teamed up to form an alliance during the 2020 elections.
Dr. Chilima, 51, was on his way to represent the government at the burial of a former government minister Ralph Kasambara, who died four days ago.
Former First Lady Shanil Dzimbiri was also on the flight, which took off from the capital city of Lilongwe and it was meant to land at the airport in the northern city of Mzuzu, but was turned back because of poor visibility.
Dr. Chilima who has been vice president of Malawi since 2014. was widely loved in Malawi, particularly among the youth, the AFP news agency reports.
In 2022 before becoming Dr. Chilima was arrested and charged on allegations that he accepted money in exchange for awarding government contracts.
Last month, the court dropped the charges, giving no reasons for the decision. He has left his wife and two children.
Source-BBC
