A plane carrying Malawi's Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima and nine other people has disappeared, Malawi's presidency said on Monday.
“All efforts by aviation authorities to establish contact with the aircraft since it left radar have so far failed,” Malawi's Office of the President and Cabinet said in a statement.
Chilima, 51, was aboard a Malawi Defense Forces plane that left the capital Lilongwe at 9:17 a.m. local time (07:17 GMT), the statement said, adding that search and rescue operations were underway. in progress.
President Lazarus Chakwera ordered regional and national forces to carry out an “immediate search and rescue operation to locate the whereabouts of the aircraft,” according to the statement.
Chakwera, who was due to travel to the Bahamas for a work visit, canceled his trip.
In 2022, Chilima was stripped of his powers when he was arrested and charged with corruption over a bribery scandal involving a British-Malawian businessman.
Last month, a Malawi court dropped the charges after Chilima attended several court appearances.
