Passengers injured in accident involving police helicopter, says AIB

A helicopter owned by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), which took off from Abuja, is said to have been involved in an accident at the Bauchi airport.

The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) disclosed the incident in a statement on Thursday.

AIB said it was notified of the accident — which occurred on Wednesday — by the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).

The agency said the helicopter — Bell 429 — left Abuja on Wednesday by 4:54pm for Bauchi with six persons on board, adding that no death was recorded but there were injuries.

The agency appealed to members of the public who have information about the accident to come forward to assist the investigation.

“On 26th January, 2022, Accident Investigation Bureau, Nigeria, was notified by Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) about an accident involving a Bell 429 helicopter with registration marks 5N-MDA owned and operated by Nigeria Police Force (NPF),” the statement issued by Tunji Oketunbi, AIB spokesperson, reads.

“The accident occurred on 26th January, 2022, around 7:30pm (Local Time) at Bauchi Airport.

“The NPF helicopter had departed Abuja at 16:54 UTC for Bauchi with six persons on board maintaining 5,500ft.

“There were some injuries but no fatality.

“The investigating agency, AIB-N, needs and hereby solicits for your assistance. We want the public to know that we would be amenable to receiving any video clips, evidence, or information any member of the public may have of the accident that can assist us with this investigation.

“The Bureau will appreciate that the general public and press respect the privacy of the people involved and NOT assume the cause of the accident until a formal report is released.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that the AIB statement described the incident as an “accident”, not a “crash”.