Malawi’s Vice President Dr. Saulos Chilima, along with nine other individuals, including his wife, tragically died in a plane crash on Monday. The crash occurred in the Chikangawa mountain range, prompting President Lazarus Chakwera to declare Tuesday a national day of mourning.
The Office of the President and Cabinet confirmed the devastating news in a statement released on Tuesday morning. The confirmation followed an extensive search effort lasting more than a day in the densely forested mountainous region in northern Malawi. The military aircraft crashed shortly after taking off from Lilongwe, the nation’s capital.
Dr. Chilima, 51, and his fellow passengers were en route to attend the funeral of Malawi’s former attorney general when the plane disappeared from radar. According to air traffic officials, poor visibility had prevented the plane from landing at Mzuzu airport, approximately 200 miles north of Lilongwe. The pilot was instructed to return to Lilongwe, but the flight vanished soon after.
In his address to the nation on Tuesday, President Chakwera detailed that the Vice President, his wife, seven military officers, and another passenger were aboard a small military plane, identified by the Associated Press as a Dornier 228-type twin propeller aircraft delivered to the Malawian army in 1988. This information was confirmed by cross-referencing the plane’s tail number with data from the ch-aviation website.
Dr. Chilima was regarded as a potential candidate for the presidential election scheduled for next year. Despite his promising political career, he had been embroiled in controversy, facing graft allegations in 2022 over claims that he received kickbacks from a businessman in exchange for government contracts. Dr. Chilima consistently denied these charges until they were dropped last month by the national prosecutor, who filed a notice to discontinue the case.
In a televised address on Monday night, President Chakwera assured the nation that the search and rescue operation would persist until the plane was found. “I know this is a heartbreaking situation,” he said, “and we are all frightened and concerned.”
The search operation received international support, with several countries, including the United States, providing technological assistance. The U.S. Embassy in Lilongwe expressed its deep concern over the crash and offered “all available assistance, including a Defense C-12 aircraft,” in a statement posted on social media Tuesday morning.
The tragic loss of Vice President Dr. Saulos Chilima and the other passengers is a significant blow to Malawi, leaving the nation in mourning and reflecting on the uncertain future of its political landscape.
