HARARE, June 10. /TASS/. Malawi Vice President Saulos Chilima could have been killed in an aircraft crash, the Malawian newspaper Nyasa Times reported, citing eyewitnesses.

There are fears that the aircraft crashed in the Chikangawa forest, killing the official, the report said. He was heading to the funeral of lawyer Ralph Kasambara, but his aircraft failed to land at the airport and turned back. Contact with the plane was lost afterward.

According to verified reports, Chilima took off from the airport in the capital of Lilongwe and headed toward the Mzuzu Airport in the country’s north, before disappearing on the way back. It is still unclear whether he was flying a helicopter or a plane, the newspaper said. The total number of people onboard was nine or 10.

President Lazarus Chakwera’s office said the plane went missing and the president canceled trips to the Bahamas and Switzerland.