LILONGWE: The president of Malawi announced on Tuesday that Saulos Chilima, the vice president of the country, had perished in an aircraft crash. The wreckage of the aircraft was discovered in a mist-covered woodland.
Due to poor weather, the military aircraft carrying Chilima, 51, and nine other people was unable to land in the northern city of Mzuzu and was instructed to return to the capital, Lilongwe. The jet vanished on Monday.
Images released by a rescue team member featured soldiers positioned on a misted hillside next to wreckage that bore the registration number of the Dornier 228-202K aircraft, which is flown by the Malawi Army Air Wing. Lazarus Chakwera, the president of Malawi, addressed the people, saying, “The search and rescue team has found the aircraft… completely destroyed with no survivors, as all passengers on board were killed on impact.”
“There are no words to express how devastating this is,” he said, calling the incident a “terrible tragedy.” On Tuesday, rescuers were searching a woodland shrouded in fog to the south of Mzuzu after authorities had discovered the final tower the plane had broadcast to before it vanished.
General Paul Valentino Phiri, the head of the army, had earlier stated that drones and helicopters had been used to support the search operation by other nations, including Malawi’s neighbors.
