LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Nthungwa Primary School headmaster Atusaye Mwalwanda on Friday September 25,2026,told Ad Hoc Committee investigating the Chikangawa plane crash that claimed the lives of former vice-president Saulos Chilima and eight others on June 10,2026 has backed previous eye witness Flora Mkandawire’s recounts.
Mwalwanda told the committee that information about a plane being seen and a subsequent loud sound was reported to him before news emerged that the aircraft carrying the had gone missing.
Mwalwanda said Flora Mkandawire told him that she saw a plane and later heard a sound, which made her suspect that something might have fallen to the ground.
“After receiving this information, I went back to school and shared the information with some of my fellow teachers,” said Mwalwanda.
He said the teachers could not immediately establish what happened because they lacked sufficient knowledge to interpret the incident.
“We felt that we did not have sufficient knowledge to understand what had happened or what had transpired,” he said.
According to Mwalwanda, it was around 4 p.m. when news started circulating that the plane carrying the vice-president had gone missing.
He said the news prompted him to connect the earlier report of the plane and the sound with the possibility that something could have happened in the area.
Mwalwanda further said he considered the possibility that there could be poachers in the area, but indicated that people were afraid to encounter them directly.
He said he subsequently asked whether it was possible for someone to travel to Nthungwa to search the area.
According to his account, the police officer Emily Mwangonde responded that she was not on duty at the time and had just come from school, but would contact her superiors for assistance.
“I am not on duty. I am just coming from school. Let me call my bosses so that they can help,” she reportedly said.
Mwalwanda said that after making the necessary connections, he informed a woman identified in his statement as Kandaire and asked her to proceed to the area.
Mwalwanda concluded his statement by declaring that the information contained in his report was true and accurate to the best of his knowledge.
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