South East breaking News
The two pilots, Flight Lieutenants Alkali and Karatu, were recent graduates of the Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA)
The two pilots, Flight Lieutenants Alkali and Karatu, were recent graduates of the Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA), it was learnt on Tuesday.
The duo was part of the Nigerian Airforce officers who returned from Pakistan last year April following a six months training at the SouthEast Asian country.
A source close to the two officers told our Correspondent that as at last year April when he last saw them, they were not married.
.Helicopter crash has been on the rise in recent times in Nigeria.
Recall that 11 months ago, Ibrahim Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff, and 10 other senior military officers died in a NAF’s Beechcraft 350, which crashed around the Kaduna International Airport.
In fact, between August 29, 2015 and 2021, Nigeria suffered 11 military plane crashes with no fewer than 33 military officers perishing.
These include the Air Force plane crash, which killed seven onboard (August 29, 2015) in Kaduna; the F-7NI jet on October 10, 2015, and the Augusta Westland which crashed in Makurdi on November 15.
In 2021 alone, the Air Force lost at least three jets. They were the Beechcraft KingAir350i which went down with all seven officers on board in Abuja on March 21, 2021; the Alpha Jet which crashed while supporting troops in the North-East on April 3, 2021, and now the biggest of them all – the crash of a military jet conveying Nigeria’s 25th Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru and 10 other officers on board at the Kaduna Airport.