Malawian Vice President Saulos Chilima reportedly died in a plane crash on Tuesday.
Malawian searchers discovered the wreckage of a plane carrying Chilima on Tuesday, a military source said, a day after the jet went missing in poor weather.
The military plane carrying Chilima, 51, and nine others vanished on Monday after failing to land in the northern city of Mzuzu due to bad visibility and was forced to return to the capital, Lilongwe.
There was no survivor among the debris. A member of the military rescue squad sent photographs to AFP, showing army men standing on a misty slope near debris bearing the registration number of the Malawi Army Air Wing Dornier 228-202K aircraft.
President Lazarus Chakwera was expected to address the country.
It wasn’t immediately known if anyone had survived. Rescuers were exploring a fog-cloaked woodland south of Mzuzu on Tuesday after authorities discovered the last tower to which the jet broadcast before disappearing.
Earlier, army commander General Paul Valentino Phiri stated that several countries, notably Malawi’s neighbours, had aided the search effort with helicopters and drones.
On Monday, the group left Lilongwe shortly after 9:00 a.m. (0700 GMT) to attend the burial of a former cabinet member in Mzuzu, which is approximately 370 kilometres (230 miles) away. Shanil Dzimbiri, Malawi’s former First Lady, was also on board.
Chilima, Malawi’s first elected vice president in 2014, is a popular figure in the country, particularly among young people.
However, in 2022, during his second term, Chilima was removed from office after being arrested and charged with graft in connection with a bribery scandal involving a British-Malawian businessman.
Last month, a Malawian court dismissed the charges, and he resumed his official activities.
