Search operations underway to locate missing aircraft with Malawi vice president, 9 others

After the aircraft carrying Malawi's Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima and nine others went missing, a massive search and rescue operations have been launched to locate the missing aircraft which will continue until it is found, Malawi's president said.

The southeastern African nation’s President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera on June 10 said he was sparing no resources in the search operation. In an earlier statement, the President’s office had said all efforts done to establish contact with the missing aircraft have been failed so far.

"All efforts by aviation authorities to make contact with the Aircraft since it went off the radar have failed thus far," Malawi's Office of the President and Cabinet said in a statement.

According to the statement, Chilima, 51, was aboard a Malawi Defense Force aircraft that left the capital Lilongwe at 09:17 a.m. (0717 GMT). The plane had been scheduled to land at Mzuzu Airport at 10:02 a.m.

"I know that this is a heartbreaking situation... but I want to assure you that I am sparing no available resource to find that plane and I am holding on to every fibre of hope that we will find survivors," president Lazarus Chakwera said in a televised address.

The military aircraft, which took off just after 9:00 am (0700 GMT), was carrying 51-year-old Chilima and nine others when it failed to land due to bad weather, said Lazarus. 

The group was reportedly traveling from the capital Lilongwe over 370 kilometers (230 miles) to the city of Mzuzu for the funeral of a former cabinet minister. Malawi's former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri (Muluzi) is also aboard the aircraft.

"Upon arrival in Mzuzu the pilot was unable to land the plane due to poor visibility occasioned by bad weather, and aviation authorities advised their aircraft to return to Lilongwe, but the authorities soon lost contact with the aircraft," Lazarus said.

The head of state has dismissed claims made by local media that search operations was discontinued for the night.

Lazarus asserted that he has given strict orders for search operations to continue as soldiers are "still on the ground carrying out the search and the operation will continue until the plane is found.”