off from the Kaduna Airport when it crashed opposite the National Open University Kaduna killing two crew members, a Nigerian and a Briton.
Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, Dr. Harold Demuren, who confirmed the crash of the American-registered aircraft, said that it was sold to the new owners by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA, Ibadan.
In his words, the twin-engine turboprop Beechcraft 350 aircraft was on a single pilot flight when the crash occurred.
Owner of the farm where the aircraft landed, Mohammed Musa said he was in the farm when the incident occurred.
He said: "I was working on the farm with my son, when I heard the heavy sound of a plane very low and approaching the ground. Then it crashed."
He said he tried to rescue those inside it but could not break open the glass of the door with the hoe with which he was working. " A soldier, who was on patrol, also ran to the scene. He used the boot of his gun on the door, but it could not open. Both of us made more effort, but the door would not break open.
"There were two people inside. We could see them through the glass windows waving at us for help. We kept on trying, with no success. Then we sighted smoke coming out from the plane.
"The smoke was getting worse. So we kept on hammering on the door. But the soldier said that we had to leave, that the plane would soon explode. We ran back. And from where we stood, we could see them waving the more.
"Then the plane burst into flames. It burnt for over an hour before the fire fighters arrived the scene. They were dead before you people came. If enough help had arrived in say, 30 minutes, these people would have been alive," he told newsmen at the scene of the incident.
The fire fighters who had a hectic time putting out the fire later cut the aircraft open and brought out the two occupants.
Speaking about the incident, Bashir Chedi, Public Relations Officer of DANA, which was maintaining the aircraft, , confirmed that the aircraft was being test-run when it crashed.
Comments