Four Naval Officers Killed in Helicopter Crash
From Ahamefula Ogbu in Port Harcourt, 01.27.2010
A Nigerian Navy Agusta reconnaissance helicopter marked 06 with three naval officers and one rating on board crashed in the swamps of Mmiri Ochiochi in Obodo Isiokpo in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State yesterday, killing all the people on board.
The helicopter was heading to Lagos from Port Harcourt.The mangled bodies were being pulled out at the crash site opposite Government Secondary School, Isiokpo when THISDAY visited the scene.
Our correspondent who went to the scene of the crash by hiring local wooden boat was prevented by security men who got there earlier from taking photographs. The security men almost created a scene when a native came with a camera and tried to take shots was stopped by a naval personnel wearing JTF jacket.
Local youths who rushed to the scene almost beat up the personnel before the intervention by an army officer restored order.
Eyewitnesses told THISDAY that they noticed the helicopter in an obvious difficulty when one of its doors followed by the propeller started falling off from the sky around 1 pm yesterday.
They said they watched the helicopter going on a free spin before a loud bang followed apparently when it eventually crashed.
As at 4.30 pm when THISDAY left the scene of the crash, another Agusta helicopter, which operated with the crashed one from Air Force Base in Port Harcourt and an Apache helicopter were seen at the field of the Government Secondary School where the recovered bodies were taken to in an ambulance.
Villagers who assisted in the rescue efforts used machete to rip part of the plane apart to pull out the bodies and recover documents and belongings.
Police top hierarchy, government officials and other security outfits thronged the place while the amber uniforms of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) could not be missed at the scene.
Naval Public Relations Officer Edward Yeibo confirmed the crash but would not say where the helicopter was coming from.
Instead, he said naval authorities had sent people to the crash site to get more information
Type of helo should be an AW-139
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