A team of officials from Nigeria’s aviation
regulatory agency, the Nigerian Civil Aviation
Authority (NCAA) and the Accident, Investigation
and Prevention Bureau (AIPB) has been
dispatched to Niger Republic to probe the cause
of an air crash involving IRS Airline, an indigenous
carrier. A statement by Yakubu Dati,
spokesperson for aviation sector parastatals
yesterday read in part: “The Supervising Minister
of Aviation, Dr Samuel Ortom, has ordered the
Accident Investigation and Prevention Bureau
(AIPB) and other relevant agencies to investigate
the circumstances surrounding the accident.” A
Folker 100 belonging to IRS Airlines, a Nigerian
aviation company owned by Alhaji Ishiaku Rabiu,
at about 7:30pm on Saturday, lost contact at
Ganla and crashed in Niger Republic.
The aircraft marked 5N-SIK and returning from a
C-Check was said to be heading for Lagos when
it crashed few minutes before entering the
Nigerian airspace .
Two crew members on board however survived.
But it was gathered that while international civil
aviation acceptable standards permit only the
country in which the accident occurred to carry
out investigations, the Nigerian Government is
interested in being a party to the investigation,
due to recent terror threats to the country and
that Niger, a neighbouring country, is said to be
a major training and hideout zone for such terror
groups .
Nigeria’s Commissioner for AIB, Dr Felix Abali,
told journalists that aviation authorities had
dispatched accident investigators to Niger
Republic for accreditation to cater for Nigeria’s
interest. Abali expressed the readiness of
Nigeria’s AIB to undertake the task of
investigating the cause of the accident if invited
by the Nigerien Aviation authority.
“We have the capacity and means to conduct the
investigation if so invited,” said Abali.
He stated that AIB was the only independent ac
cident investigation body with flight laboratory in
the sub region and was staffed with highly trained
aircraft accident investigators.
Here is a twist to the story:
Due to the recent Boko Haram threat, do you
think NAMA took down the plane?
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