The military plane left Longo yesterday morning and due to bad weather, it couldn't land at Mzuzu Airport.

It disappeared from the radar shortly afterwards.

All former presidents of Malawi, for the solidarity they expressed to me, when I called each one of them to inform them of the terrible news, because it is in times like this that we must stand together as one people.

And I'll be counting on their support to unite us during the days of mourning that lie ahead.

But more than anything, I'm deeply sorry to all of you for this terrible loss and I humbly ask you all to observe with me a minute of silence in honor of their memory.

May their souls rest in peace.

Amen.

For more on the story, we're joined by SCBC News International editor, Sophie Mkwena.

Good afternoon, Sophie.

What a tragic ending.

The president there briefing the media earlier.

Talk us through what we know so far.

What we do know is that, as the president pointed out, all the people who were on that aircraft died.

And therefore, as we speak right now, the efforts are underway to ensure that the bodies are being transported to Lilongwe.

And earlier on, I saw the visuals of different cars that are going to take these bodies and transport them to Lilongwe.

He also indicated that he will consult with the rest of the people who are leaders in that country to work on preparations for the burial.

We know also that it was not only the vice president who perished, the nine people also perished.

And among them, that includes the former first lady of Malawi, Mem Clearly, earlier on, we heard from the family that they are really, really troubled by the incident, and they couldn't even share more information with us.

It's honestly very devastating.

One can imagine that at this point, they cannot really speak.

But I want us to shift focus and look at who was Saulos Chilima as a vice president, but also as a party leader of the United Transformation Movement, because we know that he was quite popular with young people in Malawi.

He was a young leader, a very energetic leader.

And he was part of previous administration.

It was not the first time he was the VP.

We know that in 2020, they contested elections, including Chagwera.

And we know that there was a re-run.

And finally, they agreed to work together, and also had an agreement that one will take one term and the other will take the other term of office.

And next year, they were supposed to go to elections, and he had indicated that he was going to contest the elections.

The other issue is that at some point in time, he was facing charges in that country, but that case couldn't stand.

On the 6th of May, we were that he was cleared, and therefore, he was preparing to launch his campaign for 2025.

And the other issue is that when you look at his style of leadership, he comes from a business background.

He was very business savvy and business acumen using it, even in terms of what he's doing in government.

The second issue is that he was more inclined to lean towards the South-South.

When you look at the current president, Chagwera, is more inclined to lean to the North, the developed North.

And you can see that the ideology there, much as they were working together, there were bound to be some challenges.

And that is why at some time, the relationship was sour, but they did iron out the differences.

The second issue is that he was a strong proponent of strengthening of the SADC region and giving SADC more powers to intervene when there are challenges, particularly electoral challenges, as we saw in terms of what happened in the very same country, Malawi, in Zimbabwe.

Now we are here with South Africa.

Therefore, he really believed in the South-South leadership and the South-South trade and investment relations.

You speak of his regional work.

So this is not just a loss for the people of Malawi.

It's a loss in the region and the globe.

Which countries have already reacted to the news?

We saw the current president of Namibia issuing a statement saying that it is not only a loss to Malawi, but to the entire region.

We saw the Americans also issuing a statement.

The president of the African Development Bank, who was with him in South Korea, as you know, that weekend, there was that summit of African heads of state and institutions with the South Korean administration, and they were together there.

We saw the message, and we are waiting for other countries also to issue statements.

But for now, those are perhaps statements that I saw, including the former Prime Minister of Kenya, Raila Odinga, as you know that he had a strong relationship with other leaders on the continent already, particularly those who were on the opposition side.

And therefore, that's what we can report on for now.

But I think we are going to get more information later today and tomorrow.

All right.

Sophie, as always, thank you very much for your time.

That was SABC News International editor Sophie Mkwena speaking to us.