Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Chilima was tragically killed in a plane crash, the nation’s president, Lazarus Chakwera, announced on Tuesday after search teams located the wreckage in a foggy forest. The fatal crash has shaken the nation, which has been grappling with the loss of one of its most prominent leaders.
The military plane carrying Chilima, 51, along with nine others, went missing on Monday. The aircraft had been attempting to land in the northern city of Mzuzu but was unable to do so due to severe weather conditions and was subsequently directed to return to the capital, Lilongwe.
“The search and rescue team have found the aircraft … completely destroyed with no survivors, as all passengers on board were killed on impact,” President Chakwera said in a solemn address to the nation. “Words cannot describe how heartbreaking this is,” he added, calling the accident a “terrible tragedy.”
Photographs released by a member of the military rescue team showed army personnel standing on a foggy slope next to debris marked with the registration number of the Malawi Army Air Wing Dornier 228-202K aircraft. The search for the plane had been concentrated in a dense, fog-cloaked forest south of Mzuzu, following the last signal transmission from the aircraft.
Earlier, army commander General Paul Valentino Phiri had noted that other countries, including Malawi’s neighbors, were assisting in the search efforts, providing helicopters and drones to aid in locating the missing plane.
The flight had departed from Lilongwe just after 9:00 am (0700 GMT) on Monday, with the group headed to Mzuzu to attend the funeral of a former cabinet minister, a journey of approximately 370 kilometers (230 miles). Among those on board was Malawi’s former first lady, Shanil Dzimbiri.
President Chakwera recounted his own experiences flying on the same aircraft for similar trips, noting the crew’s competence and the aircraft’s reliability. “And yet, despite the track record of the aircraft and the experience of the crew, something terrible went wrong with that aircraft on its flight back to Lilongwe, sending it crashing down,” he said.
Saulos Chilima, first elected vice president in 2014, was a charismatic and stern-talking figure, especially popular among Malawi’s youth. However, his career faced turbulence in 2022 when he was stripped of his powers during his second term after being arrested and charged with graft in a bribery scandal involving a British-Malawian businessman. Despite these challenges, the charges were dropped last month, and Chilima had resumed his official duties.
Reflecting on Chilima’s legacy, President Chakwera said, “Chilima was a good man, a devoted father and husband, a patriotic citizen who served his country with distinction and a formidable vice president. I consider it one of the greatest honors of my life to have had him as my deputy and counsellor for the past four years.”
