By midnight yesterday, mist remained on the fate of Vice-President Saulos Chilima and nine others aboard a Malawi Defence Force (MDF) aircraft that went missing soon after failing to land at Mzuzu Airport.
President Lazarus Chakwera, in a late night national address at 11:15pm, said he was heartbroken and had ordered MDF to relentlessly undertake a search and rescue operation until the plane is found.
The President said signals from telecommunications towers located the plane “within a 10-kilometre radius” of Raiply Limited in Viphya Plantation, widely known as Chikangawa Forest in Mzimba and partially Nkhata Bay districts.
He said: “MDF soldiers are still on the ground carrying out the search and I have given strict orders that the operation should continue until the plane is found.
“I have also directed the MDF officials who are overseeing the operation to give you [the public] all regular updates on how the operation is going so that we can all be informed about the progress of establishing what happened to our loved ones, our colleagues and our fellow compatriots who were on board that flight.”
The President said the MDF aircraft number MAF T03 left Mzuzu Airport at 7:05am and landed at Kamuzu International Airport (KIA) in Lilongwe at 7:48am to pick the Vice-President and others to Mzuzu en route to Nkhata Bay to attend the funeral service of former Attorney General and Minister of Justice Ralph Kasambara who died on Friday.
Besides Chilima, others on board were former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri, Lukas Kapheni, Chisomo Chimaneni, Gloria Mtukule, Dan Kanyemba and Abdul Lapukeni. The flight was operated by Colonel Sambalopa, Major Flora Selemani and Major Aidin from MDF, according to the President.
Chakwera said the aircraft departed KIA at 9:17am, but failed to land in Mzuzu due to poor visibility occasioned by bad weather that prompted aviation authorities to advise that they return to Lilongwe. However, the authorities “soon lost contact with the aircraft”.
However, while the President insisted that the search and rescue operation was in progress, the Malawi Police Service and MDF officers leading the mission told people at the scene around 9:30pm that the exercise would resume at 6am this morning.
The team visited several places around the forest last evening, but failed to locate the aircraft.
Locals from around Chikangawa joined in the search amid the sombre mood that saw some shedding tears while calling for divine intervention for the Vice-President and the other passengers to be found alive.
Northern Region Police Commissioner Richard Luhanga did not grant interviews after the suspension of the search last evening.
However, UTM Party youth leader for the North Mzondi Mkandawire detailed how the search began.
He said: “The challenge is that the search started very late, a decision was made very late almost after three hours to start the search and we have just been walking around roads doing the searching, which is not helping.
“We came to start searching around Raiply because the phone of one of the people in the plane was calling and it was pinned to a tower around here. But we have searched around the place and there is nothing.”
Mkandawire stressed the need to do a thorough search in the forest, using sophisticated equipment instead of just walking around the roads.
At around 5pm, Secretary to the President and Cabinet (SPC) Colleen Zamba issued a statement that stated that the plane was expected to land at Mzuzu Airport at 10:02am.
Reads the statement: “All efforts by aviation authorities to make contact with the aircraft since it went off the radar have failed thus far. As such, the Commander of the Malawi Defence Force, General Valentino Phiri, has 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.”
Meanwhile, People’s Development Party (PDP) president Kondwani Nankhumwa said it was strange that government issued the statement six hours after the incident.
“The missing of an aircraft carrying a high-ranking government official is a significant event that can have far-reaching implications,” he said in a statement.
Earlier, Felix Njawala, spokesperson for Chilima’s UTM Party, and Office of the Vice-President director of information Pilirani Phiri said they were yet to get information on the VP’s whereabouts.
Last night, The Nation observed that friends and family were flocking to Chilima’s private residence in Area 43, Lilongwe to give his family moral and spiritual support.
