Malawi vice president Chilima, 9 others die in plane crash

Saulos Klaus Chilima

Source: Ghanaija

The Vice President of Malawi, Saulos Klaus Chilima, and nine other passengers have died  in a plane crash in a mountainous region of the country.

President Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi announced the tragedy to the nation in a televised addressed on Tuesday, June 11, 2024.

According to him, “I’m deeply saddened, I’m sorry to inform you all that it has turn out to be a terrible tragedy. The search and rescue team has found the aircraft near a hill… they have found it completely destroyed with no survivors.”

The President noted that the crash site was in a mountainous part of the Chikangawa Forest.

Mr. Chakwera says everyone on board the airplane carrying the Vice President died.

Saulos Klaus Chilima and nine others were on board the military aircraft when it went missing on Monday.

The aircraft carrying Chilima, 51, left the capital Lilongwe at 09:17 a.m. (0717 GMT) on Monday but was unable to land at Mzuzu airport as scheduled at 10:02 a.m. due to poor visibility.

It was ordered to return to the capital but went off the radar and aviation authorities could not make contact with it.

The late Vice President Chilima, seen as a potential candidate in next year’s presidential election, was arrested in 2022 over graft allegations.

However, a Malawi court dropped the charges against him last month after the director of public prosecutions filed a notice for the case to be discontinued. Chilima has denied wrongdoing.