Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Chilima has been killed in a plane crash along with nine other passengers, the country’s President Lazarus Chakwera announced Tuesday.
The aircraft went missing after it failed to land at the Mzuzu International Airport, about 380 km (240 miles) to the north of the capital Lilongwe. The wreckage of the plane has been located, Chakwera said in an address to the nation.
“The search and rescue operation I ordered to find the missing plane that carried our vice president and nine others has been completed. The plane has been found. And I am deeply saddened and sorry to inform you that it has turned out to be a terrible tragedy,” Chakwera said.
The Malawian leader disclosed that the aircraft was found “completely destroyed” near a hill in the Chikangawa Forest in northern Malawi, adding that “words cannot describe how heartbreaking this is.”
Hellbound and Down 