An aircraft carrying Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima and nine others has gone missing, according to a statement from Malawi’s presidency on Monday.

“All efforts by aviation authorities to make contact with the aircraft since it went off the radar have failed thus far,” the Office of the President and Cabinet announced.

Vice President Chilima, 51, was on board a Malawi Defense Force aircraft that departed from the capital, Lilongwe, at 9:17 a.m. local time (0717 GMT). The plane was scheduled to land at Mzuzu International Airport at 10:02 a.m., but it has not been heard from since.

Search and rescue operations are currently underway to locate the missing aircraft and its passengers.

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