“All 7 crew members on board died in the crash,” Air Vice Marshal Ibikunle Daramola said on Twitter.
He added that the head of the air force had ordered an immediate investigation into the incident.
” A military aircraft, King Air 350, has just crashed under our Abuja runway after reporting an engine development [to] Less. It turned out to be fatal, “said the country’s aviation minister, Hadi Sirika, confirming the incident in a statement.
In a follow-up communication Sunday afternoon, a spokesman for the Ministry of Aviation, James Odaudu, said that at 10:39 the plane reported an engine outage and crashed, landing on the last approach of Abuja Runway 22 at 10:48UTC. “
According to Odaudu, firefighters were deployed to the scene to put out a raging flame that engulfed the plane.
An aviation worker who asked not to be named – citing the lack of official permission to speak to the press – told CNN he saw the crash.
“The accident did not take place very far from the runway. The pilot tried to return to the runway after taking off,” he said.
The worker said the pilot swerved the plane to his crash site in a deserted area. He said the plane had carefully avoided warehouses and temporary settlements around Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport.