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Plane carrying Malawi's vice president goes missing

CGTN

Malawian Vice President Saulos Chilima (L) and his wife Mary disembark from a plane upon his return from South Korea in Lillongwe, June 9, 2024. /AP
Malawian Vice President Saulos Chilima (L) and his wife Mary disembark from a plane upon his return from South Korea in Lillongwe, June 9, 2024. /AP

Malawian Vice President Saulos Chilima (L) and his wife Mary disembark from a plane upon his return from South Korea in Lillongwe, June 9, 2024. /AP

A Malawi Defense Force plane carrying the country's vice president, Saulos Chilima, and nine others went missing on Monday, the country's Secretary to the President and Cabinet Colleen Zamba announced in a statement.

Zamba said the plane failed to make its scheduled landing at the country's Mzuzu Airport in the north at 10:02 a.m. local time on Monday.

"All efforts by the aviation authorities to make contact with the aircraft since it went off the radar have failed thus far," wrote Zamba.

Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera has since ordered all regional and national agencies to conduct an immediate search and rescue operation to locate the aircraft.

The Malawi Defence Force and the Malawi Police Service, together with other security agencies, are on the ground in Chikangawa Forest in the outskirts of Mzuzu City where the plane is suspected to have gone missing.

The Malawian leader has also canceled his scheduled departure for the Bahamas, where he was going to attend a meeting by Afreximbank.

The vice president was traveling to the funeral of the country's former Attorney General and Minister of Justice Ralph Kasambara, who was found dead in a room at a lodge in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi on Friday. His body was buried on Monday in his home village in Nkhata Bay, a few kilometers from Mzuzu Airport.

(With input from Xinhua)

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