Malawi vice president Chilima killed in plane crash
The crash site was in a mountainous part of the Chikangawa Forest
Malawi's Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima and nine others on board a military aircraft that went missing on Monday were killed in a plane crash, President Lazarus Chakwera said on Tuesday.
The aircraft carrying Chilima, 51, left the capital Lilongwe at 09:17am (0717 GMT) on Monday but was unable to land at Mzuzu airport as scheduled at 10:02am due to poor visibility.
It was ordered to return to the capital but went off the radar and aviation authorities could not make contact with it.
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"I'm deeply saddened, I'm sorry to inform you all that it has turn 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.
Chakwera said in an address to the nation that the crash site was in a mountainous part of the Chikangawa Forest.
Chilima, seen as a potential candidate in next year's presidential election, was arrested in 2022 over graft allegations.
However, a Malawi court dropped the charges against him last month after the director of public prosecutions filed a notice for the case to be discontinued. Chilima has denied wrongdoing.
