Abuja — An aircraft carrying Malawi's Vice-President Saulos Chilima, his wife and eight others has gone missing, a statement from the office of Malawi's president has said.

The Malawi Defense Force aircraft "went off the radar" after it left the capital, Lilongwe, on Monday morning, the statement added.

The president has ordered a search and rescue operation after aviation officials were unable to contact the aircraft.

According to the statement the aircraft was supposed to land at Mzuzu International Airport, in the country's north, just after 10:00 local time (11:00 BST) but has since gone missing.

Other passengers on the flight include the Vice President's wife, Mary, and a number of officials from the vice-president's United Transformation Movement (UTM) party.

After he was told of the incident by Defence Force's commander, Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera cancelled his scheduled flight to the Bahamas.

The statement read that: "The public will be updated of any developments on the situation as facts are established."

The reason for the aircraft's disappearance is not yet known, General Valentino Phiri told Mr Chakwera.

Moses Kunkuyu, Malawi's information minister, told the media that efforts to find the aircraft were "intensive".

Chilima was on his way to represent the government at the burial of former cabinet minister Ralph Kasambara, who died three days ago.

Before coming into politics, Chilima had held key leadership roles in multinational companies like Unilever and Coca Cola.

The VP, aged 51, has been in that position since 2014. He is married with two children.