A Nigerian Air Force aircraft, a Dornier 228, which crashed in Kaduna, Kaduna State on Saturday was carrying four personnel of the Force, it has been learnt.
Contrary to earlier reports by The Eagle Online, it was not an helicopter of the Nigerian Air Force that crashed.
The aircraft crashed into the Ribadu Cantonment (Old NDA), killing the seven people on board at about 6.45am on Saturday.
Those that died were four personnel of the Nigerian Air Force – the pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer and his assistant – wives of two personnel of the Force and one of their sons.
The flight was heading to Abuja.
Alhaji Musa Ilallah, the North West Zonal Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency, confirmed the crash in Kaduna.
Ilallah said: “We received a report that there was a helicopter crash at the old NDA.
“We immediately reached out to the Red Cross, Civil Defence Corps and the Kaduna State Fire Service among others and went for rescue.
“According to the report, the helicopter was on its way to Abuja with four crew members and three passengers, but crashed a few minutes after takeoff from the air force base, with no survivor.
“The helicopter crashed on part of a residential building and sank into the sand and luckily there was no one in the building otherwise there would have been more casualties.”
The coordinator said the corpses, most of which were in pieces, had been moved to the Air Force Base Hospital.
He said the Air Force authorities were investigating the cause of the crash, adding that the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadiq Abubakar, was also at scene.
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