Yahoo News is reporting that a helicopter carrying high-ranking Nigerian government officials has crashed. The article reports:
“A rescue agency spokesman says a helicopter carrying Nigerian government officials has crashed in the country’s oil-rich southern delta, causing unknown injuries.
Yushau Shuaibu, a spokesman for Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency, said the helicopter crashed Saturday in Bayelsa state in the Niger Delta. He said the helicopter was carrying high-ranking government officials, but he did not have a final manifest for the flight.
Shuaibu says rescuers have begun searching for the downed helicopter.”
Al Jazeera is reporting:
“The governor of Nigeria’s Kaduna state and a former national security adviser are among six people killed in a helicopter crash in Nigeria’s oil-producing Bayelsa state, officials said.”
ABC News is reporting:
Nigeria’s presidency said in a statement that the governor of the central Nigerian state of Kaduna, Patrick Yakowa, died in the helicopter crash in Bayelsa state in the Niger Delta.
The former national security adviser, General Andrew Azazi, also died in the crash, the statement said. Azazi was fired in June amid growing sectarian violence in Nigeria, but maintained close ties with the government. The other victims were aides to Yakowa and Azazi and the two helicopter pilots, it said.
President Goodluck Jonathan’s spokesman, Reuben Abati, said in a statement that their loss was “extremely painful to the entire nation.”
This story is developing. Check back periodically for updates on TheBurtonWire.com.
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