Malawi announces state funeral and 21 days of mourning for vice president killed in plane crash

BLANTYRE, Malawi – The Malawian government announced Wednesday that Vice President Saulos Chilima will be honored with a state funeral after he and eight other people died in a plane crash.

President Lazarus Chakwera had already announced 21 days of national mourning on Tuesday when the wreckage of the small military plane carrying Chilima and a former first lady was discovered in a mountainous region in the north of the country. During the mourning period, flags will fly at half-mast in the southern African country.

Chakwera has appointed a ministerial committee to oversee preparations for Chilima’s state funeral, the government said in a statement. A date was not announced.

Chakwera had previously said there were 10 people on board the plane, but the government now believes there were a total of nine people on board at the time of the crash.

All were killed on impact when the twin-engine propeller plane crashed in bad weather in a hilly forest area, the president said. The victims included former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri, the ex-wife of former Malawian President Bakili Muluzi. Six passengers and three military personnel were killed.

The plane was carrying Chilima and members of his staff on a short flight from the capital Lilongwe to the northern town of Mzuzu to attend the funeral of a former minister when it disappeared on Monday morning. The president said air traffic controllers told the plane not to land in Mzuzu and to return to Lilongwe because of bad weather and poor visibility. Then controllers lost contact with the plane and it disappeared from radar.

Hundreds of soldiers, police and foresters searched for more than 24 hours before the wreckage was discovered in a forest plantation south of Mzuzu.

The remains of the victims were returned to Lilongwe by Zambian Air Force helicopter on Tuesday evening, while officials and mourners, including Chakwera and Chilima’s wife Mary, gathered at the airport. The bodies of Chilima and the others were taken away from the airport in ambulances, while soldiers stood on the tarmac and saluted.

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