In Kaduna: 7 feared dead as Nigerian Airforce aircraft crashes into house

The cause of the crash remained unclear, but officials say they are suspecting engine failure.

Pictures from the crash scene

7 people are feared dead in an air crash involving an aircraft belonging to the Nigerian Air Force on Saturday, August 29, 2015.

According to multiple reports, the aircraft took off at the Nigeria Air Force base in Kaduna and crashed into the nearby Ribadu cantonment shortly after

take-off.

Premium Times reports that there were three passengers and four crew members who were  on a training flight on board and was heading to Abuja before it crashed.

Pictures from crash site

In a statement from Alonge, '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 on board the aircraft.

Crash site in Kaduna

'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.

Squadron leader Kunle Suara, one of the victims of the crash

'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,' the statement reads in full.

This is coming barely two weeks after a Bristow Helicopter flying from an oil rig in Escravos, Delta State, with two crew members and ten passengers, crashed into the Lagos lagoon.