Saulos Chilima, vice president of Malawi, was killed in a plane crash, President Lazarus Chakwera announced on June 11 after rescuers located the wreckage of the plane he was traveling on, which disappeared from radar the day before.
“Search teams have located the plane and there are no survivors,” Chakwera said in a televised address. “All passengers died instantly.”
The discovery occurred in the Chikangawa Forest Reserve.
The military plane, a twin-engine Dornier 228-202K, disappeared from radar on the morning of June 10. Shortly before, he had failed to land in Mzuzu, in the north, due to poor visibility.
Having left the capital Lilongwe, he was headed to Mzuzu, the capital of the Northern Region, where Chilima was supposed to attend a funeral.
In addition to the vice president, there were nine other people on board, including Shanil Dzimbiri, wife of former head of state Bakili Muluzi.
After the incident Chakwera gave up on an official visit to the Bahamas.
First elected vice president in 2014 alongside former president Peter Mutharika, Chilima, 51, was very popular in Malawi, especially among young people.
In 2022 he was suspended from office after coming under investigation for corruption, but the charges were later dropped.
