<p>An aircraft carrying Malawi's vice president, Saulos Klaus Chilima, and nine others has gone missing, the southern African nation's presidency said on Monday.</p><p>Chilima, 51, was aboard a military aircraft that left Lilongwe, the capital, at 09:17 am (0717 GMT), Malawi's Office of the President and Cabinet said. It said search and rescue operations were ongoing.</p><p>"All efforts by aviation authorities to make contact with the Aircraft since it went off the radar have failed thus far," it said in a statement.</p><p>The aircraft had been scheduled to land at Mzuzu Airport at 10:02 am, according to the statement.</p>.<p>Malawi's information minister, Moses Kunkuyu, told state broadcaster MBC that the search efforts had been intensified.</p><p>Chilima, seen as a potential candidate in next year's presidential election, was arrested in 2022 over graft allegations.</p><p>However, a Malawi court dropped the corruption charges against him last month after the director of public prosecutions filed a notice for the case to be discontinued. Chilima has denied any wrongdoing.</p>
<p>An aircraft carrying Malawi's vice president, Saulos Klaus Chilima, and nine others has gone missing, the southern African nation's presidency said on Monday.</p><p>Chilima, 51, was aboard a military aircraft that left Lilongwe, the capital, at 09:17 am (0717 GMT), Malawi's Office of the President and Cabinet said. It said search and rescue operations were ongoing.</p><p>"All efforts by aviation authorities to make contact with the Aircraft since it went off the radar have failed thus far," it said in a statement.</p><p>The aircraft had been scheduled to land at Mzuzu Airport at 10:02 am, according to the statement.</p>.<p>Malawi's information minister, Moses Kunkuyu, told state broadcaster MBC that the search efforts had been intensified.</p><p>Chilima, seen as a potential candidate in next year's presidential election, was arrested in 2022 over graft allegations.</p><p>However, a Malawi court dropped the corruption charges against him last month after the director of public prosecutions filed a notice for the case to be discontinued. Chilima has denied any wrongdoing.</p>