New Delhi: A plane carrying Vice President of Malawi, Saulos Chilima and nine other people have gone missing after it failed to land on scheduled time on Monday. The statement released by the presidential office and cabinet stated that Chilima and other passengers were on the Malawi Defence Force Aircraft that took off from Lilongwe at 9:17 am local time (3.17 am ET), CNN reported. As per the authorities, the plane was about to land at Mzuzu International Airport which is situated approximately 380 km (240 miles) north of Lilongwe.
The presidential statement informed that all the efforts taken by aviation authorities to make contact with the aircraft since it went off the radar.
“As such, the commander of the Malawi Defense Force, General Valentino Phiri, has since informed His Excellency Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera of the incident, and the president has since cancelled his scheduled departure for the Bahamas and ordered all regional and national agencies to conduct an immediate search and rescue operation to locate the whereabouts of the aircraft,” the statement added.
The search operation to locate the plane is still underway.