Hakim Mokadem
06/11/2024 at 08:34
Air traffic controllers lost track of the plane carrying Malawi Vice President Saulos Chilima and nine other passengers shortly after it took off on Monday June 10. Departing from the capital, the aircraft was to reach the town of Mzuzu, 370 kilometers away.
Contact with the aircraft was mysteriously lost mid-flight. The plane carrying Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Chilima disappeared from radar screens shortly after takeoff on Monday June 10.
The aircraft – whose manufacturer is unknown – left the capital Lilongwe at 9:17 a.m. (local time) to reach the town of Mzuzu in northern Malawi, located 370 kilometers away. All this, after only 45 minutes of flight.
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Bad weather and low visibility
But alas, the plane never landed on the tarmac at the airport of the country’s third city. President Lazarus Chakwera announced live on television in the evening that air traffic control had lost all trace of the plane during the flight.
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According to his explanations, the air traffic controllers asked the pilots of the aircraft not to attempt to land and turn around due to bad weather and low visibility. It was shortly after this request that the plane disappeared from the control screens, indicates the British newspaper The Guardian.
“I know this situation breaks our hearts. I know we are all scared and worried. I too am worried»the Head of State was moved before adding: “but I want to assure you that I will spare no available resource to find this plane. And I’m holding on to every fiber of hope that we’ll find survivors» he assured the camera.
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Extensive research operations
Since last night, the army has undertaken extensive search operations combing the rugged forests of northern Malawi in search of the remains of the plane. Authorities said they had also received assistance from the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway and Israel, all four of which provided “specialized technologies.”
Married and father of two children, Saulos Chilima was to attend the funeral of the former Minister of Justice. Vice-president of this small southern African country since 2014, the 51-year-old previously headed the Airtel Malawi mobile network and worked for the agrifood giant Unilever, according to his biography published on the government website.
