00:00The search and rescue operation I ordered to find the missing plane that carried our vice president
00:08and nine others has been completed and the plane has been found.
00:16And I am deeply saddened
00:21and sorry to inform you all that it has turned out to be a terrible tragedy.
00:29The search and rescue team has found the aircraft near a hill in the Chikangawa forest
00:39and they have found it completely destroyed
00:42with no survivors as all passengers on board were killed on impact.
00:49Words cannot describe how heartbreaking this is
00:56and I can only imagine how much pain and anguish you all must be feeling at this time.
01:04That aircraft is an aircraft I have myself used on similar trips,
01:12an aircraft that others had used just the day before.
01:18And an aircraft that the crew had just operated successfully just hours before.
01:26And yet despite the track record of the aircraft and the experience of the crew,
01:34something terrible went wrong with that aircraft on its flight back to Lilongwe,
01:41sending it crashing down and killing everyone on board
01:45and leaving us all devastated and asking ourselves questions
01:51whose answers cannot take away the pain and the helplessness we feel from this loss.
02:00Dr. Salas Klaus Chidimaw was a good man, a devoted father and husband,
02:06a patriotic citizen who served his country with distinction
02:12with distinction and a formidable vice president.
02:16I consider it one of the greatest honors of my life
02:20to have had him as my deputy and counselor for the past four years.
02:26And his passing is a terrible loss to his wife Mary, his family, his friends,
02:33his colleagues in the cabinet and to all of us as a nation
02:39that found his leadership and courage a source of inspiration.
02:45And I know that even the others who were on that flight were men and women of honor
02:53who served their country with distinction and whose families are left with broken hearts today.
03:01I'm profoundly sorry to all of you for this terrible loss.
03:06And I pray to God to comfort us all and to bind up our wounds
03:11as we mourn together as one nation under one flag.
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