- A military plane carrying the vice president and former first lady of Malawi disappears.
- The search operation to find the plane reportedly suffered a major delay.
- Several countries offered support to help find the missing plane.
A plane carrying Malawi's vice president Saulos Chilima may have crashed in a forest in the country's north, a senior military officer said, after it disappeared from radar on Monday morning. bbc reported.
Chilima, 51, and nine others, including former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri, were traveling across the country to attend the funeral of former government minister Ralph Kasambara, who died four days ago.
His military plane, which took off from the capital Lilongwe, disappeared from airport radars in Chikangawa forest, prompting a search operation to find the plane.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Malawi Defense Forces Commander Paul Valentino Phiri said reduced visibility in the forest due to fog has complicated search efforts.
In any case, President Lazarus Chakwera has said that the mission must continue until the plane is found and that he “maintains every fiber of hope that we will find survivors.”
However, Chilima's party, the United Movement for Transformation (UTM), said it was “disappointed” with the search operation, as they alleged that the search began at 3:00 p.m. local time (2:00 p.m. GMT) at even though the plane disappeared at 10:00:00.
The flight was due to land at Mzuzu Airport but was rejected due to poor visibility.
President Chakwera has contacted the governments of several countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway and Israel, who offered support “in different capacities” to help find the plane.
Chilima has been vice president of Malawi since 2014. He is married with two children and is well liked in the country, especially among young people, according to AFP.
Last month, the court dropped charges against Chilima, alleging that he accepted money in exchange for awarding government contracts, without giving reasons for the decision.
