A plane carrying Malawiโs vice president and nine others has gone missing and a search is under way. The plane โwent off radarโ, according to the presidentโs office.
An aircraft carryingย Malawiโs vice president and nine others has gone missing.
According to the presidentโs office, Saulos Chilima was on board when the flight โwent off radarโ after leaving the capital, Lilongwe, on Monday morning.
Rescue operations are ongoing, it added, after efforts to โmake contactโ with the plane failed.
โThe public will be updated of any developments on the situation as facts are established,โย Malawiโs Office of the President and Cabinet said.
A Malawi Defence Force plane left the capital at 9.17am (8.17am UK time), secretary to the president Colleen Zamba said in a statement.
The aircraft had been scheduled to land at Mzuzu International Airport at 10.02am, a trip covering a distance of about 370km.
Local media reports Mr Chilima, 51, had been on his way to the funeral of Ralph Kasambara, a lawyer and former minister.
Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera has cancelled a trip to the Bahamas and ordered authorities to โconduct an immediate search and rescue operation to locate the whereabouts of the aircraftโ.
Mr Chilima had been arrested in 2022 after Malawiโs corruption watchdog alleged he was rewarded for helping two companies get government contracts.
He denied any wrongdoing and last month the charges were dropped, with no reason given.
His lawyer, Khumbo Soko, said in May โwe do not know the reasons for the discontinuanceโ, adding โsuffice to say only parliament has the mandate to knowโ.
The move had cleared a legal hurdle over his potential candidacy in next yearโs presidential election.
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