A Nigerian Air Force plane carrying 25 military and civilian passengers crashed in southwestern Ondo state on Monday, killing all on board.
The accident was one of the worst air diasters in the country in recent years.
Here are some major air crashes involving the Air Force in Africa’s most populous nation, which has one of the strongest militaries on the continent.
– 1980 –
A Fokker F27 aircraft travelling from Lagos to the neighbouring island nation of Sao Tome crashed in Forcados in southern Delta state on May 26, killing all 30 people aboard. It was carrying a Nigerian delegation comprising government officials, army officers and journalists when it came down.
1992 –
A Lockheed C-130H Hercules transport plane crashed and killed all 159 passengers aboard in Ejigbo, Lagos, shortly after taking off from Lagos airport on September 26. Most of the passengers were military officers.
– 1997 –
A Dornier Do 128 plane used for training crashed and killed all three officials on it about three kilometres from the runway of the Kaduna airport on February 24.
– 2000
All six people on a Dornier Do 128 plane were killed when it crashed while approaching the runway at the Warri airport in oil-rich Delta state on October 26.
– 2006
An 18-seater Dornier 228 military transport plane carrying 15 senior army officers and three crew members crashed in Benue State on September 17. Three people survived the crash.
– 2015
A Dornier 228 plane went out of control shortly after taking off from a military air base in Kaduna and crashed into a house in a military cantonment, killing all the seven aboard.
– 2019
An attack helicopter providing support for troops fighting a jihadist insurgency in northeastern Nigeria crashed and killed all five people on board on January 2.
– 2021
On February 21, seven air force officials died when a Beechcraft King Air crashed en route Abuja airport after suffering engine failure on its way to central Niger state, where it was to go on a reconnaissance flight ahead of a mission to free kidnapped schoolgirls, according to the Nigeria Air Force.
– 2021 –
A Beechcraft King Air crashed in bad weather in May while trying to land at northern Kaduna state airport. All 11 people on board, including Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru, then commander of the country’s army, died in the crash.
AFP
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