Saulos Chilima: Malawi’s vice president dies along with nine other passengers in plane crash

CNN
—

Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Chilima was killed along with nine other passengers in a plane crash, the country’s President Lazarus Chakwera announced on Tuesday.

The plane disappeared after it failed to land at Mzuzu International Airport, about 380 km north of the capital Lilongwe. The wreckage of the plane has been found, Chakwera said in an address to the nation.

“The search and rescue operation I ordered to locate the missing plane carrying our Vice President and nine others has been completed. The plane has been found. And I am deeply saddened and sorry to inform you that this is a terrible tragedy,” Chakwera said.

The Malawian president announced that the plane was found “completely destroyed” near a hill in the Chikangawa forest in northern Malawi, adding: “Words cannot describe how heartbreaking this is.”

Watch this interactive content on CNN.com

Chakwera paid tribute to his deputy, describing him as “a good man, a devoted father and husband and a patriotic citizen who has served his country with distinction.”

“His death is a terrible loss for his wife Mary, his family, his friends, his cabinet colleagues and for all of us as a nation,” Chakwera said in his address from the Malawian capital. The president also mourned the loss of the other passengers on board.

The Malawian president stressed the tragedy of the accident and told journalists that he himself had travelled on the same plane before.

“Despite the aircraft’s track record and the crew’s experience, something serious went wrong with the aircraft on the return flight to Lilongwe,” he added.

On Monday evening, the president told journalists that air traffic control had advised the vice president’s plane not to attempt to land and recommended that it turn back towards the capital due to poor visibility. Shortly afterwards, the authorities lost contact with the plane and launched a search operation.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Malawian armed forces said they had deployed drones and at least 200 soldiers to search for the plane in the Chikangawa forest reserve, where signals about the plane’s location were last received.

Troop commander Paul Valentino Phiri said rescue efforts had been delayed due to bad weather conditions.

The vice president and nine other victims would be buried “in a dignified manner,” Chakwera said, adding that efforts were already underway to repatriate their remains to the capital.

Chilima, 51, returned to Malawi on June 6 after attending the Korea-Africa Summit in Seoul last week. He first served as deputy to former President Peter Mutharika from 2014 to 2019 before being sworn in as vice president for a second time in 2020. Chilima is an economist and previously headed Airtel Malawi, becoming the first Malawian to head the telecommunications company.

“I consider it one of the greatest honours of my life to have had him as my deputy and adviser for the past four years,” said President Chakwera.

Chilima leaves behind his wife Mary and two children.