Plane crash into Lake Malawi leaves two missing

A small plane crashed into Lake Malawi on Tuesday with three people on board, a Malawian official said. A Dutch passenger survived and was rescued by fishermen, but another passenger and the pilot are missing.

Malawi's Information Minister Moses Kumkuyu said in a statement that the rescued passenger was a woman, but did not give her age. She suffered minor injuries and was being treated at a hospital, he added.

The plane crashed near the shore of Lake Malawi in shallow water, Kumkuyu said. He said the plane had been located and a rescue operation was underway.

The plane was a Cessna C210, which can usually carry six people, flying from the central lakeside town of Nkhotakota to the southern town of Liwonde. It was operated by charter airline Nyasa Express, the statement said.

Lake Malawi is the third largest lake in Africa and is approximately 580 kilometres (360 miles) long, more than half the length of the country.