The wreckage of the plane carrying Malawi’s vice president and former first lady has been found after it crashed into a remote forest, the country’s president has said.....CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
The military aircraft carrying Saulos Chilima, 51, as well as Malawi’s former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri, and eight others, disappeared on Monday.
The plane had failed to land in the northern city of Mzuzu due to bad weather and was told to return to the capital, Lilongwe, but never arrived.
President Lazarus Chakwera said there had been no survivors in the crash.
‘The plane has been found and I am deeply saddened and sorry to inform you all, it has turned out to be a terrible tragedy,’ he said, in a televised address.
Photographs showed army personnel standing on a foggy slope near debris bearing the registration number of the Malawi army Dornier 228-202K aircraft.
The military plane carrying Vice President Saulos Chilima (pictured), 51, Malawi’s former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri, and eight others, disappeared on Monday.
Photographs showed army personnel standing on a foggy slope near debris bearing the registration number of the Malawi army Dornier 228-202K aircraft
Men are seen at the site of the crash on Tuesday
The United States and neighbouring African nations sent search aircraft to help with the search, with operations focused on a forest south of Mzuzu on Tuesday.
‘When the plane went missing, we managed to locate the last tower at which the phones had transmitted, that is why we are concentrating our efforts on that area,’ Moses Kunkuyu, a spokesman for President Lazarus Chakwera’s government, told a news conference earlier in the day.
Army commander General Paul Valentino Phiri said other countries, including Malawi’s neighbours, were aiding the effort with helicopters and drones.
The US Embassy in Lilongwe said it was working with the government to ‘offer all available assistance’ including the use of a C-12 military aircraft.
But footage shared by members of the search team showed bad weather persisted on Tuesday, with foggy conditions hampering visibility.
The group departed just after 9:00 am (0700 GMT) from Lilongwe to attend the funeral of a former cabinet minister some 230 miles away in Mzuzu.
Chakwera said on Monday that soldiers would continue looking for the plane until it was found and the state would spare no resources to that end.
‘I know that this is a heartbreaking situation. I know that we are all frightened and concerned,’ he said in an evening address to the nation.
‘I too am concerned. But I want to assure you that I am sparing no available resource to find that plane, and I am holding on to every fibre of hope that we will find survivors.’
Phiri said the army has set up an emergency command centre and would provide updates every two hours.
First elected vice president in 2014, the charismatic yet stern-talking Chilima is widely loved in Malawi, particularly among young people.
But in 2022, during his second stint in the job, Chilima was stripped of his powers after being arrested and charged with graft over a bribery scandal involving a British-Malawian businessman.
Last month, a Malawian court dropped the charges and he resumed his official duties…CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
