Plane carrying Malawi’s vice president goes missing

The plane carrying Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Chilima and nine others has gone missing, the presidency said.

It added that the Malawi Defence Force plane “disappeared from radar” after taking off from the capital, Lilongwe, on Monday morning.

The plane was due to land at Mzuzu International Airport in the north of the country just after 10am local time (9am BST).

President Lazarus Chakwera, in a speech late Monday, said search and rescue operations were continuing.

“Soldiers are still on the ground searching the area and have been given strict orders to continue the search until the plane is found,” he said, adding that it was a “heartbreaking situation”.

“I know we are all scared and anxious. I am worried too. But I can assure you that we are doing everything we can to find that plane and we have not given up hope of finding any survivors.”

Chakwera had earlier cancelled a flight to the Bahamas scheduled for Monday night.

It was still not known why the plane went missing, General Valentino Phiri told Chakwera, and Malawi’s Information Minister Moses Kunkuyu told the BBC that the search for the plane was “intensive”.

Chilima was on his way to represent the government at the funeral of former cabinet minister Ralph Kasambala, who died three days ago.

“The airport where he was due to land was in Mzuzu North and was the closest to where the funeral was being held,” Kunkuyu said.

In 2022, Dr Chilima was arrested and charged with accepting money in exchange for the award of government contracts.

Last month, the court dismissed the case without giving reasons.