Hours after the Malawi Vice President was confirmed dead with nine others on board the ill fated plane, the military officials have come out to narrate events prior to the horrific accident.
Speaking to the press, the Malawi Defense Forces commander Paul Valentino Phiri narrated the activities that took place before and after the plane crashed as the President ordered a national mourning day.
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According to the commander, the aircraft, a Malawi Defence Force Aircraft Number MAF TO3 left Mzuzu Airfield and landed at Kamuzu International Airport at 7:48am with nine on board.
The aircraft was carrying among them the Vice President to Mzuzu to attend the funeral of the Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Ralph Kasambara.
On board were Chisomo Chimaneni, Gloria Mtukule, Shanil Dzimbiri, Dan Kanyemba, Abdul Lapukeni, as well as Colonel Sambalopa, Major Selemani, and Major Aidin, who were the MDF officers operating the aircraft.
However, on arrival on the destination airport at Mzuzu, the pilot contacted the base station because he was unable to land the plane due to poor visibility occasioned by bad weather.
The base station advised the aircraft to return to Lilongwe because of the bad weather in the airport. However, immediately the plane started making rounds before eventually going off radar.
On receiving the report, the MDF commander contacted the President immediately and the president ordered the commander to effect a search and rescue operation and to give me a report within four hours.
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The bad visibility weather and foggy conditions made the rescue efforts difficult which took the rescue team hours to locate the plane before confirming that the Vice President and his entourage had crash landed.