Malawi's Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima and nine other passengers have been killed in a plane crash.

Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera confirmed the deaths in an address to the nation on Tuesday, after the plane went missing on Monday.

Mr Chilima, 51, was on board the military aircraft that left Malawi's capital Lilongwe at 9:17am.

The plane had been scheduled to land at Mzuzu airport at 10:02am but was unable to land due to poor visibility and was ordered to return to the capital.

Authorities had failed to make contact with the aircraft after it went off the radar and a search commenced.

"I'm deeply saddened, I'm sorry to inform you all that it has turn out to be a terrible tragedy," Mr Chakwera said. 

"The search and rescue team has found the aircraft near a hill … they have found it completely destroyed with no survivors.

"Despite the track record of the aircraft and the experience of the crew, something terrible went wrong with that aircraft on its flight back to Lilongwe, sending it crashing down and leaving us all devastated."

The president said the crash site was in a mountainous part of the Chikangawa Forest.

He said all passengers died on impact and their remains would be returned to the capital by the military.

Former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri, the ex-wife of former president Bakili Muluzi, was also on the plane, the president had said.

There were seven passengers and three military crew members onboard.

The group was travelling to Mzuzu to attend the funeral of a former government minister.

Presidential hopeful charged with corruption

Mr Chilima, who was seen as a potential candidate in Malawi's presidential election set to be held next year, was arrested in 2022 on corruption allegations.

It was alleged he received money to influence the awarding of government contracts.

This led to criticism that Mr Chakwera's administration was not taking a hard enough stance against graft.

However, a Malawi court dropped the charges against him last month after the director of public prosecutions filed a notice for the case to be discontinued. 

He denied wrongdoing.

The vice-president ran as a candidate in the 2019 Malawian presidential election and finished third. 

That vote was won by incumbent Peter Mutharika but was annulled by Malawi's Constitutional Court because of irregularities.

Mr Chilima then joined Mr Chakwera's campaign as his running mate in an historic election re-run in 2020, when Mr Chakwera was elected president. 

It was the first time in Africa that an election result that was overturned by a court resulted in a defeat for the sitting president.

Where is Malawi?

Malawi is a landlocked country in south-eastern Africa, bordered by Tanzania to the north, Lake Malawi to the east, Mozambique to the east and south, and Zambia to the west.

Lake Nyasa, some 580km long, is the country's most prominent physical feature.

Mzuzu is Malawi's third biggest city and the capital of the northern region. 

It lies in a hilly, forested area dominated by the Viphya mountain range, which has vast plantations of pine trees.

Reuters/ABC/AP