After his tragic death in a plane crash, Saulos Chilima, vice-president of Malawi, was buried Monday in Ntcheu, his native village located south of the capital. The country observed a day of national mourning, and tens of thousands of Malawians flocked to the national stadium to pay their last respects.
A day of national mourning
The day was declared a public holiday to allow citizens to participate in the state funeral held in honor of Saulos Chilima. During the ceremony, the army fired 19 cannon shots in tribute to the late vice president. Political figures, including President Lazarus Chakwera and all three former presidents of Malawi, laid wreaths on Saulos Chilima’s coffin. Elected vice president in 2014, Saulos Chilima, aged 51, enjoyed great popularity, especially among young people.
A tragic plane crash
The plane crash claimed the lives of him and eight other people on the plane. The plane encountered difficult weather conditions and disappeared from radar after air traffic controllers asked the pilot not to land at Mzuzu. Hundreds of soldiers, police and forest rangers searched for more than 24 hours before finding the wreckage of the plane in a forest plantation south of Mzuzu.
Call for a thorough investigation
His party, the United Movement for Transformation (UTM), an ally of President Lazarus Chakwera’s Congress Party (MCP), has called for a thorough investigation into the accident. In response, President Chakwera promised to shed light on the circumstances of the tragedy and requested help from foreign governments to carry out the investigation. “We need to understand what happened to prevent such tragedies from happening again,” he said.
