Port Harcourt helicopter crash: NAAPE demands urgent safety reforms
National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers NAAPE
Abdullateef Fowewe
The National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers has called for improved emergency response infrastructure and for its members to be included in investigation panels as it is obtained in other parts of the world.
The NAAPE President Abednego Galadima made the demand at a symposium organised by NAAPE with the theme “The Imperative of Unionization in a Struggling Economy” in Abuja.
The demand came after the Sikorsky SK76 helicopter operated by East Wind Aviation crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Bonny Finima, Port Harcourt, Rivers State on October 24, resulting in the deaths of all eight occupants.
In a statement Dailyeconomy obtained on Wednesday, NAAPE President Abednego Galadima emphasised the need for government action to prevent future tragedies while mourning the loss of the association Vice President and captain of the aircraft, Captain Yakubu Dukas.
Galadima while speaking at the event, asserted that though the union was not attempting to pre-empt the report of the investigating panel into the cause of the crash, but that from what they gathered, infrastructure for emergency response and rescue was not optimal.
Speaking of the accident that claimed the life of NAAPE Vice President, Dukas, Galadima said “Without preempting the investigation that is ongoing, we want to urge the government to ensure that infrastructure for emergency rescue and response during accidents is top notch.
“From what we have gathered, it wasn’t optimal. We also want to call on the government to ensure that no stone is left unturned in investigating to see the fact that every cause, both the remote and distant cause of this accident is identified, the aim is to forestall future occurrences.
“It is important that while we await what the NSIB will come with, we also want to call on the government as it is done in other climes that NAAPE be given an opportunity to have a representative on the investigation panel so that we can participate in the investigation from the beginning to the end of the exercise.”
Dailyeconomy on Sunday, November 3, reported that the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation and Aerospace Technology, Abiodun Akinlade and the Director General of the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau, Alex Badeh, have promised to uncover the root cause of the recent helicopter crash in Rivers State.
