A military aircraft named King Air 350 has crashed at the Abuja airport, minister of aviation Hadi Sirka announced on Sunday, February 21. The plane, according to the minister of aviation, crashlanded after experiencing an engine failure on way to Minna, Niger state. Sirika said the tragic incident was fatal and there is a possibility of all the passengers on board losing their lives to the crash. The minister, however, called for calm as Nigerians wait for the outcome of investigation by the military authorities.

“A military aircraft King Air 350 has just crashed short of our Abuja runway after reporting engine failure en route Minna. “It appears to be fatal. We should remain calm & wait for the outcome of the investigation by the military, while we pray for the departed soul/souls if any,” the minister said in a tweet.

Nigerians react A Twitter user tweeted: “The video I’m seeing looks so gory and sadden.. And the efforts of the emergency ops were timely just that anything airplane is mostly fatal. I pray the victims Rest in peace and such occurrence did not happen again. My condolences to the victims family.” Mustapha Abdullraheem commented; “I was there it crashed close to an aviation village called Bassa the pilot Man pilot did a great job by ensuring that it was not close to any of the structures. I saw it while the plan was struggling but there was no way to help rather than praying, folded hands for them. Disappointed but relieved face.

Alaka wrote: “I’m heartbroken Broken heart. In every situation give thanks to God. My heart with the families of the patriots that might have lost their lives in this incident. Folded hands Nigeria shall be great!” British obsessed wrote: “May the souls of the departed rest in peace. There’s no way they all survived the crash. Any survivor would have terrible 3° burns.”

The incident is said to have caused heavy traffic at Magboro, outward Lagos-Ibadan expressway keeping many commuters on standstill. ******* Rahaman Abiola is a result-oriented journalist and content writer with a firm grip of over 7-year corporate experience stranding diverse roles in digital & traditional media and social media communication.