A Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Dornier-228 aircraft, with call sign NAF030, has crashed into a house at Ribadu Cantonment, Kaduna. Though no casualty was recorded on ground, there were no survivors among the passengers onboard the aircraft. The aircraft was Abuja bound and had taken-off at about 6:45am from the Kaduna Military Airfield before the mishap. Bodies of the passengers have been recovered and fire fighters are already at the crash site to curtail fire from spreading to other buildings within the vicinity.
Meanwhile, the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar has aborted his official trip to Port Harcourt to visit the site of the air crash and families of some of the deceased personnel in company of the Air Officer Commanding Training Command, Air Vice Marshal Alikali Mamu. The CAS has also set up an investigation panel headed by an Air Vice Marshal to unravel the cause of the accident with immediate effect.
Meantime, the death toll from the fatal motor accident which occurred at the Nkalagu junction of the Enugu-Abakaliki express road on Friday, has reached seven.
Mr Charles Aborchi, the Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission in Ebonyi, made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abakaliki on Saturday.
This followed his earlier confirmation of the death of three persons in the crash on Friday.
“The hospital authorities informed us that the death toll has reached seven – five male and two female passengers.
He had noted that officers of the command responded on receiving the news of the crash and led the evacuation of the dead and injured.
“The dead victims have been deposited at the Annunciation Hospital in Emene, Enugu, while the injured are receiving treatment at the same hospital”, he said.
He advised motorist to drive carefully as reckless driving had resulted in wasteful loss of lives on the roads.
“Over speeding causes death as drivers suddenly attempt to stop the vehicles and when this fails, the result is mostly fatal’’, he said.
An eye witness simply identified as Chibuzor told NAN that the accident involved two 14-seater buses travelling in opposite directions and were on speed.
“I was inside a vehicle going to Abakaliki from Enugu. One of the buses attempted to overtake a smaller vehicle also going to Abakaliki.
“The bus driver did not see an oncoming bus. He lost control and this resulted in a fatal head-on collision of the buses.
“All the cars travelling at that time stopped to rescue the victims.
Mrs Edith Alegu, an indigene of the area, rued the spate of accidents which occur on the road.
“When the road was impassible, drivers used to be cautious but with its present rehabilitation, drivers go on top speed as if there is no tomorrow”, she said.
