Lilongwe.-Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Chilima was amongst 10 folks killed when a small army aircraft crashed in a mountainous area within the nation’s north, the president stated Tuesday.
President Lazarus Chakwera introduced in a dwell handle on state tv that the wreckage of the aircraft had been situated following a greater than day-long search in thick forests and mountainous terrain close to the northern metropolis of Mzuzu. Chakwera stated there have been no survivors of the accident.
The aircraft carrying Vice President Saulos Chilima and former first girl Shanil Dzimbiri disappeared on Monday morning whereas on a 45-minute flight from the southern African nation’s capital, Lilongwe, to the town of Mzuzu, regarding 370 kilometers away. (230 miles) north.
Air visitors controllers instructed the aircraft to not try and land at Mzuzu airport resulting from unhealthy climate and poor visibility and requested it to return to Lilongwe, president Lazarus Chakwera stated. Air visitors management then misplaced contact with the plane and it disappeared from radar, he stated.
There have been seven passengers and three army crew members on board. The president described the aircraft as a small propeller-driven plane operated by the Malawian armed forces.
About 600 folks had been concerned within the search at a big forest plantation within the Viphya Mountains, close to Mzuzu, authorities stated. They stated 300 law enforcement officials had been mobilized to hitch troopers and rangers within the search operation. Malawi Pink Cross spokesperson Felix Washoni stated his group additionally had staff members concerned within the search and had been utilizing a drone to help in efforts to search out the aircraft.
In a dwell televised handle to the nation Monday evening, the president stated authorities had used telecommunications towers to trace the final identified place of the aircraft to a 10-kilometer (6-mile) radius on one of many plantations. That space was the main target of the search and rescue operation, he stated.
“I’ve given strict orders that the operation proceed till the aircraft is discovered,” Chakwera stated.
Chakwera stated Dzimbiri, the ex-wife of former president Bakili Muluzi, was additionally among the many passengers. The group was touring to attend the funeral of a former authorities minister. Chilima had simply returned from an official go to to South Korea on Sunday.
The president requested Malawians to wish for the victims and their households.
Chilima has been vice chairman since 2020. He was a candidate within the 2019 Malawi presidential election and completed third, behind the incumbent, Peter Mutharika, and Chakwera. The vote was later annulled by Malawi’s Constitutional Court docket resulting from irregularities.
Chilima then joined Chakwera’s marketing campaign as his working mate in a historic re-election in 2020, when Chakwera was elected president. It was the primary time in Africa that an election end result overturned by a court docket resulted in a defeat for the sitting president.
Chilima had beforehand confronted corruption costs over allegations that he obtained cash in change for influencing the awarding of presidency contracts, however prosecutors dropped the fees final month. He had denied the allegations, however the case sparked criticism that Chakwera’s administration was not taking a tricky sufficient stance towards corruption.
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2024-06-13 08:53:42
