Another military helicopter crashes in Yola, pilots killed

ANOTHER military helicopter crashed on Thursday night in Yola, Adamawa State, some kilometres away from the area where terrorist activities are prevalent.

A one-paragraph statement posted on Defence Headquarters’ blog, said the three-man crew was lost in the event but rescuers worked throughout the night until Friday morning to preserve the wreckage and the scene.

“At about 2200hours yesterday (Thursday), 13 November, 2014, a ground attack helicopter on an armed patrol crashed around the Federal University of Technology, Yola, Adamawa State. The crew of three was lost in the ill-fated accident.

“Rescue party worked throughout the night to preserve the wreckage of the aircraft and scene of the accident for proper investigation to be carried out. Further details would be made known later,” the statement said.

A defence source said: “Since the Boko Haram campaign of terror commenced in full scale in the North East states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, the Nigerian Air Force has flown at least 6,000 missions in efforts to rid the zone of insurgency.

“The missions, aiming to decimate, degrade, destabilise and demoralise the Boko Haram terrorists with a view to completely curtailing their freedom of actions, comprised ground attacks platforms, mission on ATR-42, Beechcraft air surveillance platform, airlift missions using the G-222 and the C-130H.

“Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu, said at a recent forum at the University of Ibadan that the scope of the operations included airlift of troops and equipment, rotation of forces, battlefield interdiction, casualty evacuation, air surveillance operations and armed reconnaissance missions.”

The crash occurred in the university community of Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola, at about 9.00 p.m.

A resident of the area, Malam Umaru, told Saturday Tribune that he witnessed how the chopper crashed.

“The chopper crashed close to my house around 9.00 p.m. with people on board wearing army uniform. The plane landed and exploded up to three times with balls of fire engulfing the entire helicopter.”



SOURCE: Nigerian Tribune