Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Chilima was killed in a plane crash in the northern region of the country, along with nine other passengers, including former First Lady Shanil Dzimbiri.
The plane, which was carrying a total of 10 people, including three military crew members, disappeared from radar on Monday and was found crashed in a mountainous area on Tuesday .
President Lazarus Chakwera announced the tragic news in a live address on state television, stating that all on board had perished in the crash.
Former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri, the ex-wife of former President Bakili Muluzi, was also on the plane, the president had said.
There were seven passengers and three military crew members onboard.
The group was traveling to Mzuzu to attend the funeral of a former government minister. Chilima had just returned from an official visit to South Korea on Sunday.
Hundreds of soldiers, police officers and forest rangers had been searching for the plane after it went missing Monday morning while making the 45-minute flight from the southern African nation’s capital, Lilongwe, to Mzuzu, around 370 kilometres (230 miles) to the north.
