Saulos Klaus Chilima (left) died in a plane crash on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. The photo collage also shows the area where his plane crashed
Source: Africa Publicity
The President of Malawi, Lazarus Chakwera, has declared a national day of mourning for the Malawi’s Vice President, Dr. Saulos Klaus Chilima and nine others who died in a plane crash on Tuesday, June 11, 2024.
President Chakwera had announced the death of his Vice President and the nine others on Tuesday morning.
“I’m deeply saddened, I’m sorry to inform you all that it has turn out to be a terrible tragedy. The search and rescue team has found the aircraft near a hill… they have found it completely destroyed with no survivors,” says President Chakwera.
The President noted that the crash site was in a mountainous part of the Chikangawa Forest.
According to the President everyone on board the airplane carrying the Vice President died.
Saulos Klaus Chilima and nine others were on board the military aircraft when it went missing on Monday.
The aircraft carrying Chilima, 51, left the capital Lilongwe at 09:17 a.m. (0717 GMT) on Monday but was unable to land at Mzuzu airport as scheduled at 10:02 a.m. due to poor visibility.
It was ordered to return to the capital but went off the radar and aviation authorities could not make contact with it.
The late Vice President Chilima, seen as a potential candidate in next year’s presidential election, was arrested in 2022 over graft allegations.
However, a Malawi court dropped the charges against him last month after the director of public prosecutions filed a notice for the case to be discontinued. Chilima has denied wrongdoing.
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