A military plane carrying Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Chilima has gone missing after taking off, according to the government. The aircraft, which had nine other people on board, went “off the radar” after departing from the capital, Lilongwe, at around 9am local time (7am BST) yesterday.
Among the passengers were the vice president’s wife, Mary, and several officials from his party, the United Transformation Movement. They were en route to Mzuzu International Airport in the north to attend the funeral of former cabinet minister Ralph Kasambara, who passed away three days ago. “All efforts by aviation authorities to make contact with the aircraft since it went off the radar have failed thus far,” the government stated.