The Parliamentary ad hoc committee investigating the June 10, 2024 military plane crash that claimed the lives of former Vice President Saulos Chilima and eight others is today expected to visit the crash site at Nthungwa in Viphya Plantation, Nkhata Bay, as part of its ongoing inquiry into one of Malawi's most devastating aviation tragedies.
The visit comes a day after the committee launched its field probe with a site inspection at Kamuzu International Airport (KIA) in Lilongwe, where the Malawi Defence Force (MDF) Dornier aircraft had taken off before its ill-fated journey to Mzuzu Airport. The aircraft never reached its destination, crashing in the dense Viphya Plantation forest under circumstances that continue to raise public concern and national scrutiny.
Led by its chairperson Walter Nyamilandu Manda, the committee is expected to examine the exact location where the aircraft went down, as lawmakers seek to piece together the final moments of the flight and establish what may have gone wrong during the journey. The visit to the crash site is seen as a critical step in reconstructing the sequence of events leading to the fatal accident.
By the time of going to press, committee members were yet to arrive at the Nthungwa site, although several key officials were already present, including Secretary for Health Dr. Dan Namarika, Northern Region Police Commissioner Glinton Mitai, former Mzuzu Central Hospital Director General Dr. John Chipolombwe, and senior officers from the Malawi Defence Force.
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The presence of top government, security, and military officials underscores the sensitivity and national importance of the inquiry, which continues to attract intense public interest and emotional attention more than a year after the crash. Families of the victims and the wider public are still seeking clear answers on what caused the aircraft to go down in the Viphya Plantation, cutting short the lives of senior government officials and military personnel.
As the committee moves between the airport of departure and the crash site itself, expectations remain high that the investigation will shed light on the circumstances surrounding the flight, the aircraft's condition, and the operational decisions made on that fateful day.
