Wednesday 23 / October / 2024
Muscat: His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik sent a cable of condolences and sympathy to His Excellency Dr. Lazarus Chakwera, President of the Republic of Malawi, on the death of His Excellency Saulos Klaus Chilima, Vice President of the Republic, and a number of officials following the crash of the plane they were being carried in.
In the cable, His Majesty the Sultan expressed his sincere condolences and sympathy to His Excellency, the friendly Malawi people and the families of the victims.
Malawi's Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima and nine others, including former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri, were killed when the military plane they were travelling in crashed, President Lazarus Chakwera said on Tuesday.
The aircraft carrying Chilima, who was seen as a potential candidate in next year's presidential election, went missing on Monday.
"I'm deeply saddened, I'm sorry to inform you all that it has turned out to be a terrible tragedy. The search and rescue team has found the aircraft near a hill. They have found it completely destroyed with no survivors," Chakwera said in an address to the nation.
The plane left the capital Lilongwe at 09:17 a.m. (0717 GMT) on Monday but was unable to land at Mzuzu airport as scheduled at 10:02 a.m. due to poor visibility. It was ordered to return to Lilongwe but went off the radar and aviation authorities could not make contact with it.
Chakwera said all passengers on board were killed and that the military was bringing their remains back to the capital.
