By Jabez Yakah
Malawi’s government has said that Vice President Saulors Chilima will be honoured with a state funeral after he died in a plane crash just few days ago.
The plane was carrying Chilima and members of his staff on a short flight from the capital, Lilongwe, to the northern city of Mzuzu to attend the funeral of a former government minister when it suddenly went missing Monday morning.
The country’s President, Lazarus Chakwera had already announced a 21-day national mourning on Tuesday when the wreckage of the military plane carrying Mr. Chilima and the others who died was discovered.
President Chakwera has appointed a ministerial committee to oversee preparations for Chilima’s state funeral with the date yet to be announced.
There were no survivors in the incident as the victims included former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri, the ex-wife of former Malawian President Bakili Muluzi. Six passengers and three military crew members were killed.
The president said that air traffic controllers had instructed the plane not to land in Mzuzu because of bad weather and poor visibility but to return to Lilongwe instead. Controllers then lost contact with the plane and it disappeared from radar. The wreckage was discovered in a forest plantation in the south of Mzuzu after more than 24 hours of searching by hundreds of forest rangers, soldiers and police officers.
The remains of the victims were brought back to Lilongwe on a Zambian Air Force helicopter on Tuesday night as officials and mourners including Chakwera and Chilima’s wife gathered at an airport. The bodies of Chilima and the others were transported from the airport in ambulances as soldiers lined the tarmac and saluted.
Source: www.africanews.com
