ENTRE News – The search for the military plane carrying Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Chilima continued until Monday (10/6) evening. Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera emphasized that he was mobilizing all resources for the search and rescue operation.
“I know that this is a heartbreaking situation. But I want to assure you that I am mobilizing all available resources to find the plane and I am holding on to every fiber of hope that we will find survivors,” Chakwera said.
The following is the chronology of the military plane carrying the Vice President of Malawi, Chilima, which lost contact. The military plane carrying Chilima and his nine-person entourage was reported missing after failing to land on Monday morning.
The plane took off just after 09.00am to take Chilima FOR4D and his entourage from the capital Lilongwe to Mzuzu City to attend the funeral of a former cabinet minister. Former first lady of Malawi Shanil Dzimbiri (Muluzi) was among those on the plane.
“Upon arrival in Mzuzu, the pilot was unable to land the aircraft due to poor visibility due to bad weather, and aviation authorities advised their aircraft to return to Lilongwe, but authorities lost contact with the aircraft shortly after,” Chakwera said.
Chakwera said he had contacted the governments of various countries including the United States, Britain, Norway and Israel, all of which offered support “in different capacities”.
“Including the use of special technology that will increase the capacity to find planes more quickly,” he said.
Chakwera said telecommunications signals found the plane within a 10 kilometer radius of Riaply, a wood milling company in southern Africa located south of Mzuzu.
“At this time we continue to pray,” said Malawi’s Information Minister Moses Kunkuyu.
Military troops launched a search and rescue operation on foot and carrying torches into the Chikangawa forest, south of Mzuzu. Several unconfirmed reports said a plane crashed into the forest on Monday morning.
Chakwera, who was scheduled to travel to the Bahamas for a work visit, was forced to cancel his trip. He was waiting for news about the vice president. Chilima was the first vice president who was elected in 2014. He is quite popular among young Malawians FOR4D.
However, in 2022, Chilima was removed from power after being arrested and charged with corruption over a bribery scandal involving a British-Malawi businessman. Last month, a Malawian court dismissed the charges.