“All 7 personnel on board died within the crash,” Air Vice Marshal Ibikunle Daramola mentioned on Twitter.
He added that the Chief of the Air Employees has ordered a direct investigation into the incident.
“A army plane King Air 350 has simply crashed wanting our Abuja runway after reporting engine failure enroute [to] Minna. It seems to be deadly,” mentioned the nation’s aviation minister, Hadi Sirika, confirming the incident in an announcement.
In a follow-up communication Sunday afternoon, a spokesman on the Ministry of Aviation, James Odaudu, mentioned the “plane reported engine failure at time 10:39 and crashed landed on the ultimate method path of Abuja Runway 22 at time 10:48UTC.”
Odaudu mentioned hearth fighters have been deployed to the scene to place out a raging blaze that had engulfed the airplane.
An aviation employee who requested to not be named — citing lack of official clearance to speak to the press — instructed CNN that he witnessed the crash.
“The crash occurred not very removed from the runway. The pilot had tried returning to the runway after taking off,” he mentioned.
The employee mentioned the pilot swerved the aircraft to its crash website which is in a desolate space. He mentioned the plane narrowly averted warehouses and makeshift settlements across the Nnamdi Azikwe Worldwide airport.
