NEW DELHI, India – A plane carrying Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, who has been receiving treatment in India, abandoned take-off from New Delhi in India on Friday after developing a technical fault, local media reported.

Chiwenga, travelling with his wife Mary and Deputy Health Minister John Mangwiro, were returning home after an absence of two weeks.

The Times of India said Chiwenga and his “delegation”, tyravelling in a Boeing 737 with registration mark A6-RJX, taxied out at 7PM at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

Shortly after, the plane “developed a snag and then returned to the terminal at 7.45PM”.

The charter flight was operating with a call sign RO-J005. The B737-700 is over 20 years old.

According to the government, Chiwenga was in India for treatment of a “minor abdominal ailment.”

The Vice President, 63 this year, is understood to have consulted an esophageal surgeon after complaining that his throat was dry. He is believed to have had difficulties eating as a result, which had caused him dramatic weight loss.