Key Points
- Malawi's vice president Saulos Klaus Chilima and nine others have been killed in a plane crash.
- The aircraft left the Malawi capital on Monday but did not land at its scheduled destination and went off the radar.
- A search and rescue team found the aircraft "completely destroyed with no survivors".
Malawi's vice president Saulos Klaus Chilima and nine others on board a military aircraft that went missing have been killed in a plane crash, Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera has announced.
"I'm deeply saddened, I'm sorry to inform you all that it has turned out to be a terrible tragedy. The search and rescue team has found the aircraft near a hill," Chakwera said.
"They have found it completely destroyed with no survivors."
Chakwera said in address to the nation that the crash site was in a mountainous part of the Chikangawa Forest.
The aircraft carrying Chilima left the capital Lilongwe at 9.17am Monday morning (local time) but was unable to land at Mzuzu airport as scheduled, due to poor visibility.
The aircraft was ordered to return to the capital but went off the radar and aviation authorities could not make contact with it.
Chakwera subsequently cancelled a planned trip abroad after being informed of the missing plane by general Valentino Phiri, the head of the Malawian armed forces.
Chilima was a candidate in the 2019 Malawian presidential election and finished third.
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That vote was won by incumbent Peter Mutharika but was annulled by Malawi's Constitutional Court because of irregularities.
Chakwera finished second in that election.
Chilima then joined Chakwera's campaign as his running mate in the historic election re-run in 2020, when Chakwera was elected president.
It was the first time in Africa that an election result that was overturned by a court resulted in a defeat for the sitting president.
