Malawi Mourns Vice President Chilima After Tragic Plane Crash

Malawi's Vice President Saulos Chilima will receive a state funeral following his tragic death in a plane crash with eight others. President Lazarus Chakwera has declared 21 days of national mourning. A ministerial committee has been set up to handle the funeral arrangements. Flags will fly at half-mast during the mourning period.

In a somber announcement on Wednesday, the Malawian government declared that Vice President Saulos Chilima will be honored with a state funeral following his untimely demise in a plane crash alongside eight others.

President Lazarus Chakwera, who had already announced a 21-day period of national mourning on Tuesday, reported that the wreckage of the military aircraft carrying Chilima and a former first lady had been discovered in a mountainous region in the north of the country. As part of the mourning period, flags across the southern African nation will be flown at half-staff.

A ministerial committee has been appointed by Chakwera to oversee the preparation for Chilima's state funeral, the government confirmed in a statement. No date for the funeral has been set. Contrary to earlier reports that ten individuals were on the plane, the government now says nine were on board when the crash occurred.

President Chakwera stated that all nine people aboard the twin-propeller aircraft were killed instantly when it crashed into a hilly, forested area amid poor weather conditions. Among the victims was former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri, the ex-wife of former Malawian President Bakili Muluzi. Six passengers and three military crew members perished in the tragedy.

The ill-fated plane was carrying Vice President Chilima and his staff on a brief flight from the capital city Lilongwe to Mzuzu in the north, where they were to attend the funeral of a former government minister. The wreckage was discovered on Monday morning, and the victims' bodies were transported back to Lilongwe on Tuesday night via a Zambian Air Force helicopter. Officials and mourners, including President Chakwera and Chilima's wife, Mary, gathered at the airport to receive the bodies, which were subsequently moved in ambulances as soldiers saluted on the tarmac.

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