Fear looms as VP Chilima’s Aircraft to Mzuzu goes missing

A Malawi Defense Force Aircraft carrying the country’s Vice President Dr’ Saulos Chilima and other eight people has gone missing enroute to Mzuzu.

Secretary to the Office of the President and Cabinet Colleen Zamba has confirmed the development in a statement.

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According to the statement, the plane left Lilongwe at 9:17am for Mzuzu where the Vice President was supposed to connect to Nkhata Bay to attend the burial ceremony of the country’s former Minister of Justice and Attorney General Ralph Kasambara who died on Friday in Lilongwe.

“The Malawi Defense Force Aircraft that left Lilongwe today, Monday 10th June 2024 at 09:17 hours, carrying the Vice President, the Right Honorable Dr. Saulos Klaus Chilima, and nine others, failed to make its scheduled landing at Mzuzu International Airport at 10:02,” reads part of the statement.

Zamba indicated that efforts by aviation authorities to contact the Aircraft since it went off the radar have not been successful.

Meanwhile, the State President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera has since cancelled his trip to Bahamas, and ordered national and regional agencies to conduct a search for the Aircraft.

“The Commander of the Malawi Defense Force, General Valentino Phiri, has since informed His Excellency Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera of the incident and the President has since cancelled is scheduled departure for the Bahamas and ordered all regional and national agencies to conduct an immediate search and rescue operation to locate the whereabouts of the aircraft,” reads the statement.

Meanwhile, Government Spokesperson Moses Kunkuyu says it is government’s prayer and plea that all people in the plane should be found alive.