By Enyichukwu Enemanna
No fewer than four persons, including a pregnant woman, have been killed in accident during the funeral of Malawi’s Vice President, Saulos Chilima who recently passed away in a plane crash.
According to a police source, a vehicle in the convoy carrying the body of Chilima hit the mourners, leaving four dead.
At least 12 others who sustained injuries in the incident which occurred on Sunday night have been hospitalised.
Thousands of people had lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the coffin as it was being transported for burial on Sunday.
Trouble however started when some people started to throw stones at government vehicles and officials as the procession passed through areas close to Mr Chilima’s home.
In the ensuing ppcommotion, one vehicle went off the road, hitting a groups of mourners, killing four of them, according to a police statement.
The spokesman for Mr Chilima’s UTM party told the AFP news agency there was some tension along the route as mourners demanded the procession should stop so they could see the coffin.
“In Dedza, people blocked the road and demanded to see the coffin,” Felix Njawala was quoted as saying.
The convoy however proceeded after the mourners were pacified.
The late VP’s party has condemned the acts of violence, and asked supporters to refrain from any violence or destruction.
‘We cannot tolerate violence, Dr Chilima advocated for peace, let us do the same,” state broadcaster MBC quoted UTM secretary general Patricia Kaliati as saying.
Heritage Times HT reports that Chilima, 51, died last Monday along with eight others when a military aircraft on an internal flight crashed in a forest in the north of the country amid bad weather.
On Sunday tens of thousands of Malawians turned up to a funeral service at the national stadium to pay tribute to him ahead of his burial on Monday in his home district of Ntcheu.
Some of Mr Chilima’s supporters have been critical of how government handled events leading to his death and loudly booed the President Lazarus Chakwera when he delivered his eulogy at the funeral service on Sunday.
Chakwera has promised a full investigation into the cause of the crash.
