Mutharika's body to be flown to Malawi Thursday

BLANTYRE,

The remains of Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika will be flown from South Africa to Malawi on Thursday, a Foreign Affairs ministry official told AFP.

"An official announcement will be made today but the late president will be flown by a South African military plane," the official said Monday.

After suffering a heart attack on Thursday, Mutharika was flown to South Africa and was pronounced dead on arrival at a military hospital there the same day, a presidential secretary said.

The date for his funeral has not yet been made public, but he is expected to be buried near his home village at a his sprawling Ndata farm in the southern Thyolo district.

Mutharika's first wife Ethel, who died three years ago, is also buried at the farm.