An aircraft carrying Malawi’s Vice President, Saulos Klaus Chilima, and nine others has gone missing, according to a statement from the southern African nation’s presidency on Monday.
Chilima, 51, was on board a military aircraft that departed from Lilongwe, the capital, at 09:17 a.m. (0717 GMT), as reported by Malawi’s Office of the President and Cabinet. The statement indicated that search and rescue operations are currently underway.
“All efforts by aviation authorities to make contact with the aircraft since it went off the radar have failed thus far,” the statement declared.
The aircraft was scheduled to land at Mzuzu Airport at 10:02 a.m.
Malawi’s Information Minister, Moses Kunkuyu, informed state broadcaster MBC that the search efforts have been intensified.
Chilima, regarded as a potential candidate in next year’s presidential election, was arrested in 2022 on graft allegations. However, a Malawi court dropped the corruption charges against him last month after the Director of Public Prosecutions filed a notice to discontinue the case. Chilima has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
