Lilongwe, Malawi | AFP | Tuesday 11/06/2024 – Malawi Vice President Saulos Chilima died in a airplane crash, the president of this southern African nation introduced on Tuesday shortly after the invention of the wreckage of the airplane disappeared the day earlier than.
“Search and rescue groups positioned the airplane, fully destroyed and with none survivors, all passengers on board having been killed immediately,” introduced President Lazarus Chakwera in a televised deal with, the day after the disappearance. of the system close to Mzuzu, within the northeast.
“There aren’t any phrases to precise how upsetting that is,” he added, talking of a “horrible tragedy”.
The army airplane, with ten individuals on board, disappeared from radar on Monday after failing to land as a consequence of poor visibility. Photographs displaying particles bearing the registration variety of the plane, a twin-engine Dornier 228-202K, had been despatched to AFP.
First elected vice-president in 2014 alongside former President Peter Mutharika, Saulos Chilima, 51, a charismatic political determine with a tricky speech, was very talked-about in Malawi, significantly amongst younger individuals.
Whereas he was on his technique to a funeral, his airplane, which left the capital Lilongwe on Monday morning after 9:00 a.m. (07:00 GMT), was prevented from touchdown within the city of Mzuzu as a consequence of dangerous climate and ordered to show round, earlier than disappearing from the radar, in accordance with the Malawian presidency.
Mr. Chilima had boarded the airplane with 9 others to go to Mzuzu, 370 km to the northeast, and attend the funeral of a former authorities member. Former First Girl of Malawi, Shanil Dzimbiri (Muluzi), was among the many passengers.
Mr. Chilima was suspended from workplace in 2022, throughout his second time period, as a part of an investigation into an enormous public procurement scandal involving an Anglo-Malawite businessman. He was arrested and prosecuted for corruption. The fees towards him had simply been lifted in Might by the courts, which allowed him to renew his official features.
– Lack of contact –
“On arrival at Mzuzu, the pilot was unable to land as a consequence of poor visibility as a consequence of dangerous climate, and the airline authorities suggested the airplane to return to Lilongwe, however the authorities quickly misplaced management. contact with the system”, President Chakwera reported Monday night, in a primary televised message to the nation.
The top of state rejected native media claims that search operations had been halted as evening fell. When he was presupposed to go on a working go to to the Bahamas, he canceled his departure.
The search started on Monday night, with troopers looking on foot and by the sunshine of flashlights the Chikangawa forest reserve, the place in accordance with unconfirmed testimonies cited within the native press, some stated they’d seen a airplane crash. .
They continued Tuesday morning regardless of very current fog.
The rescuers concentrated their searches in an space near the final relay antenna the place the vice-president’s phone had been blocked for the final time, a presidential spokesperson stated throughout a press briefing.
A number of international locations, together with neighbors of Malawi, one of many poorest international locations in southern Africa on the planet, have supplied assist, together with drones and helicopters, stated Basic Paul Valentino Phiri, commander of the military.
The US Embassy in Lilongwe additionally provided help, together with the opportunity of utilizing a C-12 army plane.
Messages of condolences poured in from the African Union, the European Union and the US.
“Our ideas are with the family members of those that misplaced their lives and the individuals of Malawi at this tragic time,” the British Excessive Fee in Lilongwe stated.
