Malawi Vice President Saulos Chilima, 9 Others Died In A Plane Crash: Malawi President

Malawi's vice president and nine others were killed in a plane crash, the country's president said Tuesday. The wreckage of the military plane carrying Vice President Saulos Chilima was located in a mountainous area in the north of the country after a search that lasted more than a day. There were no survivors of the crash, Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera said. Chakwera made the announcement in a live address on state television.

A day ago it was reported that military plane carrying Malawi's vice president and nine others went missing and a search operation to find them was launched.

According to the reports, the plane carrying 51-year-old Vice President Saulos Chilima left the capital, Lilongwe, but failed to make its scheduled landing at Mzuzu International Airport about 370 kilometers (230 miles) to the north around 45 minutes later.

Aviation authorities lost contact with the plane when it "went off radar," the statement from Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera's office said. Chakwera ordered a search operation and canceled a trip to the Bahamas, his office said.

"All efforts to make contact with the aircraft since it went off radar have failed thus far," the statement said. Chakwera was informed of the missing plane by Gen.

Valentino Phiri, the head of the Malawian armed forces. The president had ordered national and local authorities to "conduct an immediate search and rescue operation to locate the whereabouts of the aircraft," his office said.