The government has announced that a military aircraft carrying Malawi’s vice president Saulos Chilima has gone missing after it was unable to land on Monday morning.

Despite numerous attempts by aviation authorities to establish contact with the aircraft after it disappeared from radar, all efforts have been unsuccessful.

The plane departed shortly after 9:00 am local time (0700 GMT) with Chilima, who is 51 years old, and nine others on board. President Lazarus Chakwera has instructed both regional and national forces to launch an immediate search and rescue mission to locate the aircraft.

Chakwera, who was scheduled to travel to the Bahamas for a working visit, has now called off his trip. In 2022, Chilima was stripped of his authority following his arrest and subsequent charges of corruption related to a bribery scandal involving a British-Malawian businessman. However, last month, the charges against Chilima were dropped by a Malawian court after he attended multiple court hearings.