Malawi’s president appeals for support to locate missing plane

LILONGWE, Malawi

Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera said his government has contacted the country’s neighbors and development partners for support to locate a military plane carrying Vice President Saulos Chilima and nine others that went missing Monday morning.

In a late-night address to update the nation on the missing aircraft, President Chakwera said his government has contacted the US, Israeli, Norwegian and British governments for possible assistance.

The development partners according to the president have since offered their support in different forms, including the use of specialized technologies “that will enhance our capacity to find the plane sooner.”

“I know that this is a heartbreaking situation. I know that we are all frightened and concerned. I, too, am concerned. But I want to assure you that I’m sparing no available resource to find that plane, and I’m holding on to every fiber of hope that we will find survivors,” Chakwera said.

The plane carrying the vice president left the nation’s capital Lilongwe at 9.17 a.m. (0717GMT) on Monday enroute to the country’s northern city of Mzuzu, where he was scheduled to attend the funeral ceremony of the country’s former Justice Minister and Attorney General Ralph Kasambara, who died suddenly on Friday.

But according to the Malawi Defense Force, the plane failed to land as scheduled at Mzuzu International Airport due to poor visibility and was forced to head back to Lilongwe but disappeared from the radar while en route to the capital.