This is a synopsis provided by an eyewitness to the jet crash that claimed the lives of the vice president of Malawi and several others.
1. At Raiply, the search team(s) was(were) awaiting orders.
2. A local councillor in the Nthungwa district of Chikangawa received a call from a timber maker/sawyer (soyala wa matabwa) inquiring about a report he had heard about a plane going missing.
3. The Councillor was then informed by the timberman that they had actually spotted what appeared to be a plane wreck nearby.
4. After that, the council member called the police.
5. The Police notified the Raiply search component or components.
6. The search party then set out to find Nthungwa.
7. A few individuals started capturing and sharing photos as soon as they arrived.
8. The members of the Malawi Defence Force then gave them the order to leave the area and cease snapping photos.
Groups of citizens had arrived and inspected the sight by this point.
9. Outside the plane lay the bodies of Dr. Chilima and two other people.
Three bodies were located inside the plane’s back, while about five bodies were located inside the front.
10. The plane’s front section sustained the most damage, while the back appeared to be rather undamaged.
11. The bodies have now been removed from the aircraft and are waiting to be carried by ambulances outside, close to the wreckage.
12. Nthungwa is surrounded by a natural forest and lies just beyond the pine plantation.
