DIG, three others die in helicopter crash
Baku, March 15 (AZERTAC). TWELVE days after he was decorated with the new rank, `Deputy Inspector General of Police` and assigned to the “B Department” (Operations), DIG John Haruna, and three other police officers, died on Wednesday in a helicopter crash in Jos, Plateau State capital.
The helicopter was piloted by ACP Garba Yalwa. Other victims of the crash were the co-pilot, CSP Alexander Pwol-Jo, and the DIG`s orderly, Sergeant Sonatian Shirunam.
The helicopter was said to have crashed into some houses at Kabong, a heavily populated neighbourhood in Jos North Local Government Area.
Also, a nine-year-old boy said to have been injured in the incident. One eyewitness told journalists that the boy, who was taken to an undisclosed medical centre, might have been hit by a sharp object that flew off the crashing helicopter. When contacted, the Chief Medical Director of University of Jos Teaching Hospital, Dr. Ishaya Pam, told THE PUNCH that the boy, whose name could not be ascertained as at press time, was not brought to the hospital.
The helicopter belonged to the Nigeria Police and was being used by the Special Task Force put together by the Federal Government to contain the crisis in Jos. It was deployed in the city after the massacre of more than 500 people at Dogo Na Hawa and Ratsat villages in Jos South LGA.
Our correspondent learnt that Haruna, who was a former Commissioner of Police, FCT, was on his way back to Abuja after he, along with the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin, had undertaken an operational tour of Jos to assess the extent of damage of last Sunday bomb blast to St. Finbarr`s Catholic Church, Rayfield, Jos.
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