Malawians are experiencing alarming hours as distressing reports continue to emerge about the missing plane carrying Malawi's Vice President Saulos Chilima and eight others, particularly after eyewitnesses reported an incident in a forest and Malawian media hinted that the incident involved the Vice President's aircraft. The plane carrying Saulos Chilima, the Vice President of Malawi, and 9 others, went missing on Monday, according to a statement from the President's office.
The statement revealed that the aircraft belonging to the Malawi Defense Force "went off radar" after departing the capital, Lilongwe, on Monday morning. Following the notification of the incident, Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera canceled his scheduled trip to the Bahamas. The plane was supposed to land at Mzuzu International Airport in the northern part of the country after 10:00 AM local time (11:00 AM GMT), but that did not happen.
Where is the Vice President of Malawi? Is he safe? When will we know? There are increasing strong fears regarding the death of the Vice President of Malawi in a plane crash while landing in the Chikangawa forest, following his helicopter's failure to land at Mzuzu airport.
Reports from sources indicate that Chilima was aboard a military helicopter to attend the funeral of lawyer Ralph Kasambara, but the aircraft failed to land due to bad weather conditions. According to Malawian media, eyewitnesses have reported an incident in the Chikangawa forest area, believed to involve the plane carrying Chilima. Other sources indicated that Chilima's phone was last available around 10:30 AM this morning.
A presidential statement in Malawi stated that "all efforts made by aviation authorities to contact the aircraft since it went off radar have so far failed," thus, the commander of the Malawi Defense Force, General Valentino T. Fiore, informed President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera about the incident.
