Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima and nine others, including former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri, were killed when the military plane they were traveling in crashed, President Lazarus Chakwera said on Tuesday.
The aircraft carrying Chilima, who was seen as a potential candidate in next year’s presidential election, went missing on Monday.
“I’m deeply saddened, I’m sorry to inform you all that it has turned out to be a terrible tragedy. The search and rescue team has found the aircraft near a hill. They have found it completely destroyed with no survivors,” Chakwera said in an address to the nation.
“Saulos Chilima was a good man, a devoted father and husband, a patriotic citizen who served his country with distinction. A formidable vice president, I consider it one of the great honors of my life to have had him as a deputy and as a counselor.”
Chilima, who had been viewed as a possible presidential candidate in national elections in 2025, had been arrested in 2022 for allegedly receiving payment in exchange for granting government contracts but those charges were dropped last month.
The plane left the capital Lilongwe at 09:17 a.m. on Monday but was unable to land at Mzuzu airport as scheduled at 10:02 a.m. due to poor visibility.
It was ordered to return to Lilongwe but went off the radar and aviation authorities could not make contact with it.Chakwera said all passengers on board were killed on impact and that the military was bringing their remains back to the capital.
“Despite the track record of the aircraft and the experience of the crew, something terrible went wrong with that aircraft on its flight back to Lilongwe, sending it crashing down and leaving us all devastated,” he said.
Images shared online showed security and rescue personnel on the crash site on a hillside with debris scattered around the tail of the Dornier 228-202K military transport plane, its tail number MAF T03 still visible.
