Police debunk reports of crashed helicopter, says chopper landed safely in Bauchi

The Nigerian Police Force has denied reports that one of its helicopters, the Bell 429 5NMDA, flying from Abuja to Bauchi on Tuesday, January 26, 2022, was crashed enroute its destination.

The denial is coming in the wake of a statement credited to the General Manager, Public Affairs of the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), Tunji Oketunbi, on Thursday that a police helicopter, which took off from Abuja crashed at the Bauchi Airport around 7:30p.m. on Wednesday.

Mr. Oketunbi said there were no fatalities but that injuries were injuries sustained by the six persons on board the helicopter.

The police in a statement on Thursday by its spokesman, Frank Mba, dispelled reports that the helicopter was involved a crash noting that it was rather involved in a controlled safe landing at the Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa International Airport, Bauchi.

“The aircraft did not crash as being reported in some sections of the media and none of the occupants sustained any injury whatsoever. All six (6) on board including the pilot and co-pilot are in good condition”, Mbah said.

He said the aircraft, which was flown by one of its best Police Pilots, was professionally safe-landed around 7.30pm with minor damage on the rear rotor as a result of obstacle at the landing spot.

The police spokesman said the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba, has commended the Police Air-Wing for their professionalism in safe-landing the aircraft and averting any serious air-mishap.

He further noted that the Nigeria Police Air-wing with a fleet of one fixed-wing aircraft, a citation jet and thirteen (13) helicopters, has a strong history of air safety since its establishment in 1972.