ONGELUK
Vice-president Malawi omgekomen bij vliegtuigongeluk
June 11, 2024 - Malawi’s vice president, Saulos Chilima, was among ten people killed when a small military plane crashed in a mountainous forest region in the north of the country on Monday.
Dr Chilima had been vice president for ten years and developed a reputation as a “performer” and “workaholic.”
Former President Peter Mutharika picked him from the business sector for the second most senior post in government.
President Lazarus Chakwera announced that former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri, the ex-wife of former President Bakili Muluzi, was also on the plane.
Seven passengers and three military crew were onboard the Dornier 228-type twin-propeller plane.
Hundreds of soldiers, police officers and forest rangers had been searching for the aircraft after it went missing Monday morning while making a 45-minute flight from the southern African nation’s capital, Lilongwe, to Mzuzu, around 370km (230 miles) to the north.
Before his role as vice president in 2014, Dr Chilima had held other senior roles in the corporate sector, including at Coca-Cola and Unilever and as managing director of the country’s leading telecommunications company, Airtel Malawi.