An investigation is underway to determine what caused a small Nigerian air force passenger jet to crash Sunday, killing all seven individuals on board.
The Beechcraft King Air B350i aircraft crashed whereas attempting to return to the airport within the capital city Abuja after reporting engine failure, according to a tweet by Air Vice Marshal Ibikunle Daramola, an air force spokesman. The twin-turboprop plane was en route to the central Nigerian city of Minna, roughly 60 miles northwest of Abuja.
The air force has not provided the names of those killed in the crash.
A witness described the moments main up to the crash.
“As he (the plane’s pilot) was going down, he struggled to go back to the airport, at the end he just crashed,” Alaba Lawal told Reuters. “I simply saw the whole thing explode, fire and smoke together. … After I got there I noticed dead bodies on the ground.”
Another witness, Olugbenga Alamode, mentioned, “Everybody there was screaming full of disbelief.” Alaade, a government employee who mentioned he has worked at the airport for 9 years and who saw the crash, told The Associated Press that it had been at least a decade since a plane has crashed at that airport.
Daramola mentioned first responders were on the scene and he urged the public to remain calm and await the results of the investigation.
Many tweets commiserated with the households of the deceased
