By BlackmansStreetToday

Dr. Saulos Chilima, the vice president of the Republic of Malawi, and nine others were killed in an airplane crash. 

Chilima, 51, and the other passengers were on their way to the funeral of the country’s former attorney general when their plane veered off the radar. 

Air traffic officials said the plane had been unable to land at Mzuzu airport, about 200 miles north of the capital, due to poor visibility. The pilot had been advised to return to Lilongwe when the flight disappeared.

Soldiers had been searching Chikangawa Forest overnight and into the morning in an effort to find the plane.

In a news briefing on Tuesday, President Lazarus Chakwera said the Malawi Defence Force commander informed him that the search and rescue operation had been completed and the plane was found.

President Chakwera said he was “deeply saddened and sorry” to inform Malawians of the terrible tragedy.

Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa.