Plane carrying Malawi vice president, 9 others missing

A plane carrying Malawi's Vice President Saulos Chilima and nine others was reported missing on Monday after failing to make its planned landing.

The plane took off from the capital Lilongwe around 9:15 a.m. local time and never arrived at Mzuzu International Airport, disappearing from radar, officials said. The journey was only supposed to take about 45 minutes.

In an address to the nation, Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera said the plane failed to land due to bad weather and was advised to turn around and return to Lilongwe.

“All efforts by air authorities to contact the plane since it disappeared from radar have so far failed,” the presidential office said in a statement.

“The President has since canceled his planned departure for the Bahamas and ordered all regional and national agencies to conduct an immediate search and rescue operation to locate the aircraft,” the statement added.

The search had been limited to a specific area, Chakwera said in an update later Monday.

“I know it’s a heartbreaking situation,” he said. “I know we are all scared and worried – I am worried too. But I want to assure you that I will spare no available resource to find this plane.

Chilima, 51, has been vice president of Malawi since 2014.

Malawi, landlocked in southeast Africa by Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique, has around 21 million inhabitants.

The incident follows a helicopter crash that claimed the life of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi last month.