DIntense searches are underway in Malawi on Tuesday to find the military plane which was carrying the country’s vice-president, and disappeared from radar the day before after failing to land.
“I know this is a heartbreaking situation … but I want to assure you that I am not ruling out any available means to find this plane and that I am clinging to the hope that we will find survivors,” President Lazarus Chakwera said in a televised message to the nation Monday night.
With nine other people, the vice-president, Saulos Chilima, 51, took a seat on this plane – which took off Monday shortly after 9:00 a.m. local (07:00 GMT) from the capital, Lilongwe – to go to the town of Mzuzu, 370 km to the northeast, attend the funeral of a former government member.
Former First Lady of Malawi, Shanil Dzimbiri (Muluzi), was also on board.
“On arrival at Mzuzu, the pilot was unable to land due to poor visibility due to bad weather, and the aviation authorities advised the plane to return to Lilongwe, but the authorities soon lost control. contact with the device,” said the president.
The head of state rejected local media claims that search operations had been halted overnight.
The soldiers are “still on the ground carrying out the search and I have given strict orders for the operation to continue until the plane is found,” he said, adding that the army would regularly provide information to the public.
Earlier in the day, he ordered regional and national forces to carry out an “immediate search and rescue operation”, according to a government statement.
International aid
The president said he had contacted the governments of several countries, including the United States, Britain, Norway and Israel, all of which offered assistance “in different capacities,” including the provision of “specialized technologies that will allow us to find the plane more quickly.
A telecommunications signal made it possible to locate the plane within a 10 km radius around Riaply, a wood crushing company, located south of Mzuzu, he announced.
Monday evening, in this area, soldiers searched on foot and by the light of flashlights the Chikangawa forest, where according to unconfirmed testimonies at this stage, witnesses saw a plane crash, local media reported.
President Chakwera, who was due to leave for a working visit to the Bahamas, canceled his departure.
First elected vice-president in 2014, Mr. Chilima, a charismatic political figure with a tough speech, is very popular in Malawi, particularly among young people.
But in 2022, during his second term, he was suspended from office after being arrested and prosecuted for corruption as part of a scandal involving an Anglo-Malawite businessman.
In May, a Malawi court quashed the charges after several hearings in its presence.
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