BLANTYRE (Malawi): A military plane carrying Malawi's vice president and nine others went missing Monday and a search was underway, the president's office said.

The plane carrying Vice President Saulos Chilima left the capital, Lilongwe, but failed to make its scheduled landing at Mzuzu International Airport about 370 kilometers to the north around 45 minutes later.

Aviation authorities lost contact with the plane when it “went off radar,” the statement from Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera's office said.

Chakwera ordered a search operation and canceled a trip to the Bahamas, his office said.