7 die in helicopter crash in Kaduna

A Nigerian Air Force helicopter crashed into Ribadu Cantonment (Old NDA), killing seven people on board at about 6.45 a.m. on Saturday.

Alhaji Musa Ilallah, the North West Zonal Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), confirmed the crash in Kaduna.

“We received a report that there was a helicopter crash at the old NDA.

“We immediately reached out to the Red Cross, Civil Defense 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’’, Ilallah said.

The coordinator said that 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.