The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) says that intelligence report it has gathered indicates that the Alpha Jet aircraft (NAF475) that went off the radar with 2 crew members on board on Wednesday, March 31, 2021 might have crashed.
The Director of Public Relations and Information of the NAF, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, said in a statement on Friday that the cause of the crash as well as the whereabouts of the 2 pilots had remained unknown.
He gave the names of the pilots of the ill-fated aircraft as Flight Lieutenant John Abolarinwa and Flight Lieutenant Ebiakpo Chapele.
Gabkwet explained that extensive search and rescue efforts are still ongoing by the NAF surveillance aircraft as well as NAF Special Forces and the Nigerian Army troops on ground.
“At this point, the NAF is not ruling out anything regarding the incident. It, however, remains hopeful that the crew would soon be found and rescued,” he said.
GIK/APA