Malawi Mourns: Vice President's Plane Found, No Survivors

 The wreckage of the missing aircraft, which was carrying Malawi Vice President Saulos Chilima and nine others, has been discovered.

President Lazarus Chakwera announced on Tuesday, June 11, that there were no survivors when the plane crashed into a forest. In a televised address, he expressed deep sorrow, describing the event as a terrible tragedy.

Malawian search teams located the wreckage of the plane, a Malawi Army Air Wing Dornier 228-202K aircraft, on Tuesday. The military aircraft, carrying Vice President Chilima and nine other passengers, vanished on Monday, June 10, after being unable to land in Mzuzu due to poor visibility and being instructed to return to Lilongwe.

Photographs from the scene, shared with AFP by a member of the military rescue team, depicted army personnel amidst debris bearing the aircraft's registration number.

President Chakwera was scheduled to address the nation, with uncertainty prevailing about any potential survivors.

Rescue teams had been searching a fog-covered forest south of Mzuzu after locating the last transmission tower the plane had contacted before disappearing.

Army commander General Paul Valentino Phiri noted that neighboring countries and other international partners had provided assistance, including helicopters and drones, in the search efforts.

The group, including Vice President Chilima and former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri, departed from Lilongwe early on Monday to attend the funeral of a former cabinet minister in Mzuzu, approximately 370 kilometers away.