The Vice President of Malawi, Saulos Chilima, has been confirmed dead after a plane carrying him and 9 others crashed 240 miles north of the nation’s capital, Lilongwe. He was scheduled to arrive at Mzuzu but was told by air traffic controllers not to land there due to bad weather. They were returning to Lilongwe when the plane crashed. They were on their way to attend the funeral of a former government minister.
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Excerpt from www.euronews.com
Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera announced in a live address on Tuesday that the plane had been completely destroyed and everyone onboard was killed on impact.
Former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri, the ex-wife of former President Bakili Muluzi, was also on the plane, the president had said. There were seven passengers and three military crew members onboard.
The aircraft was found wrecked in a foggy forest by search teams. It disappeared during its 45-minute flight from Lilongwe, the capital, to Mzuzu, located approximately 370 kilometers to the north.
Air traffic controllers told the plane not to attempt a landing at Mzuzu’s airport because of bad weather and poor visibility and asked it to turn back to Lilongwe, Chakwera said in an address late Monday night. Air traffic control then lost contact with the aircraft and it disappeared from radar, he said.
Chakwera expressed his thanks for assistance from the US, the UK, Norway, and Israel, who provided specialised technologies to aid in the search.
The group was traveling to Mzuzu to attend the funeral of a former government minister. Chilima had just returned from an official visit to South Korea on Sunday.
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