A plane carrying the Zimbabwean-born Malawian Vice President and nine other passengers crashed into a forest, the country’s president announced on Tuesday. President Lazarus Chakwera confirmed that there were no survivors. The aircraft departed from Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe, en route to a northern city for the funeral of a former attorney general. It reportedly lost contact with air traffic control shortly after takeoff. Hundreds of soldiers and police officers scoured the dense forest plantations in the Viphya Mountains near the town of Mzuzu for hours before locating the wreckage.
According to the president, the 51-year-old Chilima and former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri were on board. The plane left Lilongwe at 9:17 a.m. for the 45-minute flight to Mzuzu. It was due to landing at the airport in Mzuzu, but air traffic control advised the pilot not to attempt landing because of poor weather and visibility, Chakwera said. “They were advised to turn back, but then we lost contact with them,” he said. The pilot had also notified the airport in Mzuzu that they would be returning, but the airport had no radar to track the aircraft. Chakwera said the government used telecommunications towers to track the plane’s last known position within a 10-kilometer radius in a large plantation in one of the mountain range’s many forests.
The president said the search for the plane was continuing, and he had given strict instructions that the operation would continue until the aircraft was found. He also praised the efforts of the soldiers and police officers who were scouring the fog-cloaked forest for the missing plane.
Chilima is a popular figure in Malawi who has served as vice president since 2014. He was elected to his first term in 2022 and reelected in 2024. The charismatic but stern-talking politician is widely loved in the African nation, particularly among youth. He was briefly arrested in late 2022 on suspicion of taking bribes in exchange for government contracts, but the charges were dropped the following month.
Several eyewitnesses claimed they had seen the plane crash into the forest, but authorities have not confirmed those reports. The crash comes as the country is in turmoil over allegations of corruption by top officials. The governing party is struggling to contain corruption and fraud that has recently plagued the country, with millions of dollars being diverted from public spending. The scandal has prompted calls for a total budget audit, which is expected to be carried out next year. It will also probe the use of public funds by Chakwera’s administration and his family. The president is seeking re-election in 2019 but faces a challenge from the opposition party, which has accused him of squandering the public purse. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party has denied the claims. In the 2020 election, Chakwera finished third in an initial vote won by current President Peter Mutharika but was declared the winner in a rerun vote after court-ordered irregularities were discovered.
