KAMPALA, Uganda
More than a dozen Uganda
People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) soldiers have reportedly perished in eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after a helicopter crashed on them, multiple
sources told this publication last night.File
The Mi-17 helicopter, which is
mainly used for transportation, medical evacuation and VIP travel, had just
delivered food consignment to the troops engaged in Operation Shujaa when it
tumbled and exploded during take-off.
Brig Gen Felix Kulayigye, the
army spokesman, confirmed last evening in a telephone interview that a
Russian-made Mi-17 helicopter crashed in the eastern DRC.
“Yes, it is true one of our
helicopters crashed. I haven’t received details about the causalities,” Brig
Gen Kulayigye said.
Asked about President Museveni
issuing a radio message ordering an investigation into what exactly happened to
the UPDF helicopter, he said “everytime there is an accident, a board of
inquiry is established to investigate the matter and they have put up one in
this incident.”
President Museveni, who is the
commander-in-chief of the armed forces ordered a board of inquiry to investigate
how and why military helicopters were dropping from the skies.
Uganda People’s Defence Air
Force (UPDAF) Deputy Commander, Maj Gen Charles Okidi, will lead the inquiries,
according to a military radio message sent out last evening.
Highly-placed security sources
said the tail rotor of the helicopter, which was technically on a
captain-supervised flight, struck a tree, leading it to spin uncontrollably
before crashing on troops collecting the food.
The tail rotor is an essential
component which helps to “neutralise the twisting momentum” of the main
propeller, according to the United States Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA), keeping a helicopter steady in flight.
The instructor-cum-pilot in
the Monday incident has posthumously been named as Ukrainian national Yury
Vyshykvy and died on the spot while the Ugandan pilot, Capt Patrick Arinaitwe,
and five other crew members sustained varied injuries.
The casualties and fatalities
have been moved to Bombo Military Hospital outside Kampala, a State House
source briefed on the matter said on condition of anonymity, citing sensitivity
of the issue.
This newspaper received news
of the crash on Monday evening, but delayed publishing the story to give the
UPDF time to inform the next-of-kin of the deceased and injured.
The DRC accident
occurred three days after an Mi-24 attack helicopter went down on an elderly
woman’s house in Fort Portal City, Kabarole District on Saturday, raising
safety concerns for an important service of the military.
Preliminary findings attribute
the crash in western Uganda to technical errors. This newspaper understands
that the crew manning the ill-fated helicopter had specially been trained to
fly Mi-28, Uganda’s latest and more modern fire-power acquisition in the
sky.
According to knowledgeable
sources, three of the UPDAF choppers had flown out to Fort Portal in a
formation, before one dropped from the skies. The two others landed
successfully.
We could not independently
verify accounts that the crashed helicopter had delivered food to commandos,
who constitute part of Uganda’s elite military unit, deployed in DRC on
Operation Shujaa to hunt down Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels.
The counter-ADF offensive
started at the end of November last year and Monday’s tragedy, which sources
briefed on the matter christened as the “worst incident”, happened a month to
the mission’s first year anniversary.
Multiple sources said the
Mi-17 helicopter did not land on first attempt in Congo because the cleared
helicopter landing zone, or HLZ, on the ground was smaller than the recommended
50-by-50 metre area.
The pilots were radioed to
return on the understanding that the landing area had been expanded, and the
helicopter landed smoothly. However, during lift-off, the tail rotor hit a tree,
yanking the machine to spin before slamming to the ground.
It remains a subject of the
investigation to establish how instructor-cum-pilot Yury, who was the most
qualified and senior flight professional onboard, died when the Ugandans he was
teaching all survived.
The latest back-to-back
accidents follow the death of Capt Carol Busingye on February 12, 2021 in a
helicopter that crashed shortly after lifting off from Entebbe International
Airport.
Earlier in January 2020, Maj
Naome Karungi and Cadet Pilot Benon Wakalo on a training flight, perished in a
Jet Ranger crash in Butambala District in central Uganda.
The worst air disaster in UPDF
history, according to insiders, happened in August 2012 when seven out of a
28-member crew flying to bomb the al-Shabaab in Somalia lost their lives in
multiple Mi-24 helicopter crashes on Mountain Kenya.
Gen Salim Saleh, originally
named Caleb Akwandanaho, led investigations into the accidents, but the report
has not been made public, making it unclear if lessons learnt from the tragedy
a decade ago have been incorporated in UPDAF operations to guarantee better
safety. - Monitor
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