BEVERLY HILLS, April 05, (THEWILL) – The Nigerian Air Force fighter jet that went missing last week may have been found in Bama, Borno State.
According to a report by THISDAY, quoting a military source, the jet was found with the body of one of the pilots intact. The pilot was Flight Lieutenant Chapele Ebiakpo.
The source added that the body of the other pilot, Flight Lieutenant John Abolarinwa, was still missing, explaining that troops on the ground had been asked to intensify their search.
The NAF Alpha jet went missing since Wednesday, March 31, with the duo on board.
In a statement earlier on Friday, the Air Force had said the Alpha Jet aircraft (NAF475) might have crashed.
However, a terror group, Boko Haram, had claimed responsibility for the crash but the military refuted the claim.
But a military source told THISDAY that the jet, which took off from Maiduguri Airport crashed five minutes after take-off at an estimated altitude of 15,000 feet, explaining that at that height no missile by Boko Haram could have hit and brought it down.
“Given what we have seen, the jet could not have been hit by any missile. It must have been caused by a technical fault that would be revealed by ongoing investigations,” he said.
The jet, according to Air Force spokesman, Commodore Edward Gabkwet, was on an interdiction mission in support of ground troops as part of the ongoing counterinsurgency operations in the North-East when it lost contact with the radar.
“The loss of radar contact occurred at about 5:08 p.m. on 31 March 2021,” he said in a statement last week.
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