REVEALED: How Kaduna plane crash occured – Eyewitnesses

"Just before the flight crashed into my neighbours houses, I noticed that its noise was unusual. So, I came out to see what exactly it was, then, I saw the plane coming down, then it picked up again. But when it came down the second time, I didn’t see it go up again, the next thing I heard was a deafening explosion"


Nigerian Air Force Flight identified as Donnia 228 crashed in the early hours of Saturday into residential quarters at the old site of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna.

Seven persons on board the jet, including four crew members and three passengers died instantly.

The Nigerian Air Force authority confirmed the incident, saying, it’s Chief, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, has constituted a panel to probe the crash.

When newsmen visited the scene of the crash few minutes after the accident, there was panic among NAF members in the military Cantonment.

Eyewitnesses said they saw the flight before it finally crashed.

An officer’s wife said, “Just before the flight crashed into my neighbours houses, I noticed that its noise was unusual. So, I came out to see what exactly it was, then, I saw the plane coming down, then it picked up again. But when it came down the second time, I didn’t see it go up again, the next thing I heard was a deafening explosion.

“Before I could say jack, it went up in flame and my neighbours’ houses were on fire. But thank God for timely intervention of men of the state fire service who came around early enough.

“We thank God that our neighbours are safe. But, they said all the passengers on board died. It’s very unfortunate.”

Similarly, a soldier who resides at Kotoko barracks was overheard telling his colleagues that the plane wobbled seriously over their roof, but he thought the pilot will eventually take control of the aircraft, until he heard that it later crashed.

However, it took the intervention of Kaduna State Fire Service and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to put out the fire, although, sympathisers had earlier made commendable efforts before the arrival of the agencies.