Malawi VP Saulos Chilima Dies in Plane Crash

Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Chilima was killed in a plane crash along with nine other people on board, President Lazarus Chakwera has announced, after searchers found the wreckage of the aircraft in a fog-cloaked forest.

The remains of the military plane were located in a mountainous area in the north of the country, a day after it went missing in bad weather.

The remains of Malawi's Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima and others killed in a plane crash were flown back to Malawi's capital Lilongwe.

The military aircraft carrying Chilima, seen as a potential candidate in next year's presidential election, went missing on Monday. The former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri was also amongst the crash victims.

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.

As the plane approached Mzuzu, the control tower there – the government says – told the aircraft it couldn’t land because of the bad weather and that it should turn around and return to Lilongwe.

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.

Chilima, 51, returned from South Korea on Sunday after participating in the Korea-Africa summit, and was traveling with the other passengers on Monday morning to attend the funeral of Malawi's former justice minister in the north of the country.

Seven passengers, including former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri, who was married to ex-President Bakili Muluzi, and three military crew members were on board. The group was heading to the northern town of Mzuzu to attend the funeral of a former justice minister.