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The pilot who flew the Nigerian fighter jet that crashed on Saturday parachuted just before the crash but still died, a witness has said.
The Air Force on Saturday confirmed that the F7-Ni fighter jet crashed on Saturday in Hong area of Adamawa State.
A local farmer, who identified himself as Moses David, said the crash occurred at Didango Village about 20km from Song local government headquarters.
He made a similar statement as the Air Force that the crash could have been caused by bad weather, saying there was heavy windstorm in the area.
“The fighter jet plummeted to the ground around 4:30 p.m. Saturday,” Mr. David said. “In fact, we saw the pilot parachuting out of the jet but he could not land safely as he lost control and rammed into a tree as a result of the heavy windstorm leading to his instant death.”
“The fighter jet sunk into the ground and got missing completely. This is the first time we are witnessing this type of mishap in our village which scared all of us to our marrows as we thought it was the end of the world,” he said.
In a statement on Saturday, the spokesperson of the Air Force, Dele Alonge, said the aircraft crashed at about 4:23 p.m. Nigerian time due to bad weather.
Mr. Alonge, an Air Commodore, said the F7-Ni fighter jet, with registration number, NAF801, was “returning to base from an interdicted mission when it crashed around Hong, in Hong Local Government Area of Adamawa State.”
“There was no survival as the pilot of the aircraft lost his life in the unfortunate incident,” Mr. Alonge said.
He emphasised that the crash was due to bad weather and that the aircraft was never under enemy fire.
The statement added that the Chief of Air Staff, Sadique Abubakar, had immediately “set up an investigation panel to unravel the remote and immediate causes of the accident”.
The latest accident came exactly 42 days after another aircraft belonging to the Force crashed in Kaduna, also killing all crew and passengers on board.
The Dornier-228 aircraft, with call sign NAF030, had on August 29 crashed into a house at Ribadu Cantonment, in Kaduna, shortly after take-off.
The aircraft was Abuja-bound and had taken off at about 6:45 a.m. from the Kaduna Military Airfield before the mishap.
After the crash, Air Force Chief Abubakar constituted an investigative panel, headed by an Air Vice Marshal, to unravel the cause of the accident.
The outcome of the investigation, like that of earlier crashes, is yet to be made public.
The Air Force on Saturday confirmed that the F7-Ni fighter jet crashed on Saturday in Hong area of Adamawa State.
A local farmer, who identified himself as Moses David, said the crash occurred at Didango Village about 20km from Song local government headquarters.
He made a similar statement as the Air Force that the crash could have been caused by bad weather, saying there was heavy windstorm in the area.
“The fighter jet plummeted to the ground around 4:30 p.m. Saturday,” Mr. David said. “In fact, we saw the pilot parachuting out of the jet but he could not land safely as he lost control and rammed into a tree as a result of the heavy windstorm leading to his instant death.”
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