Cameroon is seeking the support of Nigeria’s Accident Investigation Bureau of Nigeria (AIB) on the investigation of an accident involving Havilland DHC 400 Twinotter aircraft, which occurred on May 11, 2022 in its airspace.
Director of Civil Aviation in Cameroon’s Ministry of Transportation, Essimi Dine, who led the team to AIB headquarters in Abuja, said the support was necessary due to Nigeria’s advanced infrastructure and technical competence on aviation accident investigation.
“We have come to see how AIB is doing things; what they can do in terms of equipment and infrastructure they have. We appreciate the support of the AIB. We assure that the cause of the accident will be resolved after our work here. We will further request for other areas of collaboration. We really appreciate the support of AIB,” she said.
Earlier, AIB Commissioner Akin Olateru said the bureau was part of the investigation of the accident in Cameroon as Nigerians were on board.
He said two Nigerian pilots and a Cameroonian operator were involved in the accident.
“Cameroon has decided to seek assistance in terms of the investigation to help with the download of the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder analysis of information and animation of how it happened.
“As you aware, we have one of the best accident investigative laboratories in the world. We have capability of getting information from the damaged recorder, which the aircraft came with. The aircraft came with a highly burned recorder. We will be able to retrieve information from it,” Olateru said.
He said the AIB had previously assisted other African countries including Niger Republic, Gambia and Sierra Leone to investigate air accidents in their domains.
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