Plane Carrying Malawi Vice President, Saulos Chilima & 9 Others Goes Missing; Search Operation Underway

Lilongwe [Malawi]: Vice President of Malawi, Saulos Chilima and nine other people have gone missing after the plane failed to land at a scheduled time on Monday, reported CNN

The presidential office and cabinet announced in a statement that Chilima and other passengers were on the Malawi Defence Force Aircraft that took off from Lilongwe at 9:17 a.m. local time.

According to authorities, the plane was supposed to land at Mzuzu International Airport, which is located approximately 380 km (240 miles) north of Lilongwe, reported CNN. However, it never made it there and is no longer in the zone of the radar.

Presidential Statement

"All efforts by aviation authorities to make contact with the aircraft since it went off the radar have failed thus far," the presidential statement read.

"As such, the commander of the Malawi Defense Force, General Valentino Phiri, has since informed His Excellency Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera of the incident, and the president has since canceled his scheduled departure for the Bahamas and ordered all regional and national agencies to conduct an immediate search and rescue operation to locate the whereabouts of the aircraft," the statement added.

The search operation to locate the aircraft is underway.

Further details are awaited.