Malawi Vice President Saulos Chilima along with 9 others were killed in plane crash on Tuesday (June 11).
Following a massive search operation, the missing plane was found in Chikangawa Forest, with all its occupants dead.
In a statement on Tuesday, Colleen Samba, the president’s secretary, confirmed the tragic news.
The Office of the President and Cabinet issued a formal statement detailing about the accident.
Earlier a maasive search operation was launched in mountainous forests in northern Malawi after an aircraft carrying Vice President Saulos Chilima and nine others went missing on Monday (June 10).
The plane carrying Vice President Saulos Chilima, former First Lady Shanil Dzimbiri and eight others departed from the capital. But air traffic control in Mzuzu had informed the pilots not to try landing and instead to turn around because of bad weather and poor visibility.
However, air traffic control lost contact with the aircraft and it disappeared from radar a short time later.
Chilima has been vice president since 2014. He earlier led the mobile network Airtel Malawi, as well as worked at Unilever, Coca Cola and Carlsberg, according to his profile on the government’s website.
(With inputs from agencies)