An aircraft carrying Malawi’s Vice-President Saulos Chilima and nine others has gone missing, a statement from the president’s office has said.
The Malawi Defence Force aircraft “went off the radar” after it left the capital, Lilongwe, on Monday morning, it added.
The plane was supposed to land at Mzuzu International Airport, in the country’s north, just after 10:00 local time (09:00 BST).
In a speech late on Monday, President Lazarus Chakwera said a search and rescue operation was continuing.
“Soldiers are still on the ground carrying out the search and I have given strict orders that the operation should continue until the plane is found,” he said.
Mr Chakwera earlier cancelled his flight to the Bahamas, which was scheduled for Monday evening.
The reason for the aircraft’s disappearance is not yet known, General Valentino Phiri told Mr Chakwera. Moses Kunkuyu, Malawi’s information minister, told the BBC efforts to find the aircraft are “intensive”.
Mr Chilima was on his way to represent the government at the burial of former cabinet minister Ralph Kasambara, who died three days ago.
Mr Kunkuyu said: “The airport he was to land, which is in the northern part of Mzuzu, was the closest to where the funeral was taking place.”
Source:BBC
Let’s pray for them.
They have died! Ohhhhhhh……noooo
The day ECL will disappear, Zambia will be in chaos.
What a contrast.
Ifwe mu Zambia only MP thugs go missing.
Meanwhile Mnangagwa’s paranoia has reached another level. It seems the chickens have come home to roost.
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#MN Let’s hope he’s just delusional otherwise this would be a bad precedence in our subregion.
My condolences to families of those that have passed on. Are normal people still supporting ECL anymore?
Zambia should assist with our drones. Help your brothers and sisters, why do we always have to wait for the west? Anyway I blame Emerson Mnangagwa for his careless talk.
Thats how the failed leader resorts to, the malawian president is so useless our own hh is far better though hh is a failure. Pipo are crying in malawi & everything has fallen apart. The vice president is from opposition party & pipo love him so you get my flow!!!!
He has plans to stand as president in the next election. Being an elected VP, Chakwera can’t fire him. So the only way to stop him is Zero Option. Just thinking and hope I am wrong.
And the slave & colonised mentality of our African leaders, i heard the malawian president pleading for with USA, Britain, Israel for assistance in locating the missing plane. all they do is begging, no wonder we are not respected, manipulated & raped resource-wise. Africans cannot do thing on their own but rather beg. shame!!!!!!!! A beggar can NEVER be a chooser!!!
I heard the malawian president pleading for with USA, Britain, Israel for assistance in locating the missing plane. The slave & colonised mentality of our African leaders, all they do is begging, no wonder we are not respected, manipulated & raped resource-wise
Umfwiti bwanu ba mambala imwe ba Malawi mwaona manje ndeke yoonse chinyoni chikulu so just disappearing in thin air like that.
HH should take a leaf from this crash, these flying coffins they like boarding gallivanting around the world aimlessly on useless trips have very serious potential consequences. Bu tukwendo munjila muleke sure!
The Zambian govt should support our brothers and sisters in Malawi. HH should order ZAF to give support. We stand with our neighbors in solidarity during this difficult time
Being a Politician is not easy…..and these Politicians live super luxurious lives whilst citizens wallow in poverty…..always stealing and wasting tax payers money
And Chakwera every little thing he rushes to the Americans and British for help… this man is insane with his fake accent….he tries very hard to sound like an American….
When we say fly the gulfstream you say ,me I cannot never..I prefer the older plane…lwenu
Thats the reason I will never be a Politician…let me just continue working 4 jobs and provide for my family…. POLITICS….NO THANKS…am good
“Chakwera vows sparing no available resources to find the plane”. I sincerely wish they spare no available resources helping their poor citizens who are struggling with basic needs such as clean water and electricity…but its ok…lets spend billions looking for the missing plane and forget about pregnant mothers in Hospitals without Medication
And the vice President was going to a funeral of Justice Minister Ralph Katambara who also had died mysteriously and he also had Presidential ambitions….the late vice President Chilima was supposed to take over as the President of Malawi in 2025 according to the Tonse Alliance…..Chakwera knows what he has done
Sad that Chakwera is among puppets the USA has got on the strings
They simply look the other way.