Johannesburg — Malawi’s Vice President Dr. Saulos Chilima and nine other individuals, including his wife, tragically lost their lives when their plane crashed in the Chikangawa mountain range, the government announced on Tuesday. President Lazarus Chakwera has declared Tuesday a national day of mourning.
“Unfortunately, all on board have perished in the crash,” the Office of the President and Cabinet stated on Tuesday morning. The confirmation followed a more than day-long search effort in the forested area of the northern Malawi mountains. The military plane crashed on Monday morning after departing from the capital, Lilongwe.
Chilima, 51, and the other passengers were en route to attend the funeral of the country’s former attorney general when their plane disappeared from radar. Air traffic officials reported that the plane had been unable to land at Mzuzu airport, approximately 200 miles north of the capital, due to poor visibility. The pilot was advised to return to Lilongwe when the flight vanished.
In his address to the nation on Tuesday, President Chakwera detailed that Chilima, his wife, seven military officers, and another passenger were on a small military plane, identified by the Associated Press as a Dornier 228-type twin propeller plane, delivered to the Malawian army in 1988. The AP verified this information by cross-referencing the aircraft’s tail number provided by Chakwera with data from the ch-aviation website.
Chilima was seen as a potential contender for next year’s presidential election. He had been a somewhat controversial figure, arrested in 2022 on graft allegations related to receiving kickbacks from a businessman for government contracts. Chilima consistently denied the charges until last month, when they were dropped by the national prosecutor.
In a televised national address on Monday night, Chakwera assured the nation that the search and rescue operation would continue until Chilima’s plane was found. “I know this is a heartbreaking situation,” he said, “and we are all frightened and concerned.”
Several countries, including the United States, provided technological support for the search operation. In a social media statement posted Tuesday morning, the U.S. Embassy in Lilongwe expressed deep concern over the crash and offered “all available assistance including a Defense C-12 aircraft.”
Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/malawi-vice-president-saulos-chilima-dies-plane-crash/