Ill-fated aircraft was on casualty evacuation mission
A Nigerian Air Force (NAF) MI-171 Helicopter crashed on Monday near Chukuba Village in Niger State while conveying some troops injured in a gun battle with terrorists to a military hospital in Kaduna State.
Contrary to reports that the NAF helicopter was gunned down by armed bandits, a statement by NAF’s Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, said the aircraft crashed around a village in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger state on Monday.
The statement stated thus; “A Nigerian Air Force MI-171 Helicopter on a casualty evacuation mission crashed today, August 14, 2023, at about 1.1.00 pm Chukuba Village in Niger State.
“The aircraft had departed Zungeru Primary School en route Kaduna but was later discovered to have crashed near Chukuba Village in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.”
According to the NAF’s Spokesman; “Efforts are currently ongoing to rescue the crew and passengers on board the helicopter, while preliminary investigations have commenced to determine the probable cause of the crash.”
Meanwhile, military sources hinted that the air component and ground troops had responded to distress calls put by members of the raided communities, and upon engaging the terrorists halted their violent activities with some soldiers losing their lives, and others injured, alongside some of the local vigilantes.
It was gathered that the bandits, most of them using motorbikes, raided the communities when the military responded, and “It was quite a hectic day in the counterterrorism campaigns as the bandits were raiding different villages simultaneously and rustling hundreds of cattle.”
One of the sources said; “We responded decisively against the bandits at the Jiwawa axis, while we also another group at a community in Wushisi LGA early in the morning. Surprisingly, while the operations were going on, we got more distress calls that the bandits had infiltrated other communities in Lavun and Rafi local governments.
“Troops and vigilantes that were mobilized exchanged gunfire on their routes including at Zungeru Kontagora road. The operations were very successful before the crash of the helicopter which was on a casualty evacuation mission after picking injured troops in Niger on its way to a military hospital in Kaduna.”
The latest development is coming about a month after a Nigerian Air Force FT-7NI trainer aircraft crashed in Makurdi, the Benue State capital with the two pilots onboard the aircraft surviving the crash.
