NAF Autocrash: Victims To Be Buried Today

The seven officers who lost their lives in last Sunday’s Beechcraft King Air B359i air crash will be laid to rest at the National Cemetery, Lugbe, Airport Road, Abuja, today.

The Nigerian Air Force, NAF, disclosed this in Abuja yesterday.
Recall that the surveillance aircraft crash-landed at Bassa village just before the runway of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, after reporting engine failure.
The late officers are Fl. Lt. Haruna Gadzama; Flight Captain, Fl. Lt. Henry Piyo (Co-Pilot); Flying Officer Micheal Okpara (Airborne Tactical Observation System Specialist); Warrant Officer Bassey Etim (ATOS Specialist); Fl. Sgt. Olasunkanmi Olawunmi (ATOS Specialist); Sgt. Ugochukwu Oluka (ATOS Specialist) and Aircraftman Adewale Johnson (Onboard Technician).

The tragic incident generated an outpouring of grief nationwide while the Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Isiaka Amao, ordered an investigation into the mishap.
The CAS said the deceased personnel, had been in Minna, Niger State, for days conducting Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance missions in connection with the efforts to secure the release of the 42 students and staff abducted from the Government Science College Kagara, Niger State.
Meanwhile, following the crash and the death of the seven young Air Force officers, tributes have continued to pour in from their family members and friend’s via different platforms.

The father of late Gadzama, who hails from Borno State, is a first-class electrical engineer who retired as a wing commander in the Nigerian Air Force and was also the HOD, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, while late Henry Piyo, has an aged father, Mr. Bitrus Piyo, who lives in Jos.
Piyo’s father, who hails from Plateau State, once worked as a staff of the University of Jos and later transferred to the University of Ibadan, UI, is a retiree after working with the Plateau State Government. He currently lives in Jos, Plateau State.