Malawi Vice President Saulos Chilima dies in plane crash

Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima and nine other passengers have been killed in a plane crash.

Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera confirmed the deaths in an address to the nation on Tuesday, after the plane went missing on Monday.

Mr Chilima, 51, was on board the military aircraft that left Malawi’s capital Lilongwe at 9:17am.

The plane had been scheduled to land at Mzuzu airport at 10:02am but was unable to land due to poor visibility and was ordered to return to the capital.

Authorities had failed to make contact with the aircraft after it went off the radar and a search commenced.

“I’m deeply saddened, I’m sorry to inform you all that it has turn out to be a terrible tragedy,” Mr Chakwera said.

“The search and rescue team has found the aircraft near a hill … they have found it completely destroyed with no survivors.”

The president said the crash site was in a mountainous part of the Chikangawa Forest.