Malawi’s government has announced 21 days of mourning and preparations for a state burial after the death of its Vice President Saulos Chilima.
Chilima and eight others, including a former first lady died in a plane crash on Monday. Previously official communication had said that there were 10 people aboard the plane but the government now says that a total of nine were on board when it crashed.
Read Also: Aircraft Carrying Malawi’s Vice President Found With No Survivors
Flags will fly at half-staff across the southern African nation during the period of mourning.
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Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera has also appointed a ministerial committee to oversee preparations for Chilima’s state funeral, the government said in a statement. No date was announced.
President Lazarus Chakwera has constituted a ministerial committee to oversee the state funeral of Vice President Saulos Chilima and nine others who were killed in a plane crash on Monday.https://t.co/ebxrsfqLES pic.twitter.com/90Nb4JnEFL
— Malawi Government🇲🇼 (@MalawiGovt) June 12, 2024
The plane, a Malawi Defense Force Aircraft had disappeared from airport radars on Monday morning moments after leaving the country’s capital Lilongwe. Officials say the plane was flying in bad weather.
Hundreds of soldiers, police officers, and forest rangers searched for more than 24 hours before the wreckage was discovered in a forest plantation south of Mzuzu.
The remains of the victims were brought back to Lilongwe on a Zambian Air Force helicopter on Tuesday night.
