51-year-old Saulos Chilima, the vice president of the East African nation of Malawi, and former first lady Shaunille D’Simbri had made the 45-minute drive to Mzuzu, 370 kilometers from the South African nation’s capital, Lilongwe, on Monday morning.
Then the plane they were traveling in suddenly lost contact with the control room and disappeared. Air traffic control room officers ordered the plane carrying the Vice President not to attempt to land at Mzuzu Airport due to bad weather and to return to Lilongwe.
But then the plane lost contact with the traffic control room. And it disappeared from the radar. The mysterious plane had seven passengers and three soldiers on board. This aircraft is a Dornier 228 type twin propeller aircraft.
It is suspected that the plane may have crashed in dense forest in the Viphya Hills near Mzuzu. Around 600 personnel were involved in the search operation in the area. In a live televised address to the nation last night, the president promised that the search would continue until the plane was found.
The Malawian president said the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway and Israel had provided assistance in the search operation and provided “special technologies”. Meanwhile, the military plane carrying Vice President Saulos Chilima has been found to have crashed in the mountains in the north of the country.
The wreckage of the plane was found in a dense forest in the mountains. Malawi President Lazarus Sakwera said that no one survived the accident. President Sakwera announced this in a live address on state television.
A few days ago, the president of Iran, Ibrahim Raisi, died in a plane crash. In this case, the death of the Vice President of Malawi in a plane crash has caused a great tragedy.
