The wreckage of the missing Airforce Alpha jet which went missing in Adamawa after going on a routine operational mission may have been found.
Although, this is yet to be officially confirmed, but villagers in Lala State Development Area in Adamawa State claimed yesterday to have seen the wreckage.
NewsRescue exclusively alerted on Saturday that the Jet which went for an operation in Konduga where the military succeeded in routing Boko Haram insurgents insurgents, killing over 120 of them had gone missing on it’s way back to its Yola base. Our report was later confirmed by the Defence Headquarters on Sunday which stated that “The aircraft, with two pilots onboard, left Yola at about 10:45am on 12 September 2014 on a routine operational mission and was expected back by 12:00 noon.
Olukolade in a statement said “Since then all efforts to establish contact with the aircraft have not yielded any positive result. Meanwhile, search and rescue effort is ongoing to establish contact with the crew.”
But as the search and rescue effort continued, an administrative officer in Gombi Local Government Area of Adamawa State said villagers assisted a military search team in an effort to locate the plane after rumours that it crashed between Ngalga and Barda in Gabun ward.
The official said after an intensive search without a clue, soldiers who were more than 100, attempted to move to the Borno side of the boundary to continue the search but were blocked by the Gabun River, which has overflown its banks.
The official said vilagers from Hawul village on the Borno side of the border informed him that a plane-like object was sighted in the mountainous area.
“Some villagers have just called to tell me that an object they believed to be an aircraft was discovered in the bush,” he said.
He said a search party by the villagers will comb the area this morning.
The likelihood of the aircraft being brought down by Boko Haram was considered remote by a military source.
The source said: “A sad moment after the euphoria of joy and excitement of military victory in Konduga. The jet did much of the bombardments of the insurgents, got missing in Adamawa axis.
“We are definitely searching for the jet; it is too early to either talk of a crash or attack by the insurgents.
“Some members of the search team have been in and around Michika town in Adamawa but we have not found the jet.”
The source claimed that the incident had not stopped ongoing operations in Borno and Adamawa states.
http://thenationonlineng.net/new/air-force-loses-jet-in-boko-haram-battle/
