RESCUE operations have been intensified following the crash of a privately owned aircraft into Lake Malawi on Tuesday afternoon, with two people still missing. The plane, operated by the Zimbabwean company Nyasa Express, was carrying two Dutch nationals and a Zimbabwean pilot.
A Dutch female passenger was pulled from the water by local fishermen and is currently receiving treatment in the hospital for minor injuries. However, the search continues for the remaining passengers—a Dutch national and the Zimbabwean pilot.
Moses Kunkuyu, Malawi’s Minister of Information and Digitisation, spoke with Anadolu news agency on Wednesday, confirming that the government is making every effort to locate the missing individuals. ‘We are very optimistic that by the end of Wednesday, we should have made significant progress in our rescue efforts,’ he said.
The aircraft, identified as a C2110, took off from Nkhotakota, a district on the lakeshore, and was en route to eastern Malawi. The crash occurred about 45 minutes before the scheduled landing. Kunkuyu noted that wreckage has been spotted underwater near the shore, and efforts are underway to bring the plane ashore.
This incident comes just a few weeks after a tragic plane crash on June 10, which claimed the lives of Malawi’s Vice President Saulosi Klaus Chilima and eight others. Investigations are ongoing to determine the cause of both crashes, as authorities work to improve aviation safety in the region.
