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Plain textUPDF CHOPPER CRASH: Bodies Of Fallen Soldiers Received
3:00pm: The plane carrying bodies of UPDF soldiers who perished in last Sunday’s multiple chopper crashes, finally touches down at Entebbe Airbase.
They bodies are received at a ceremony presided over by the Chief of Defence Forces Gen. Aronda Nyakairima.
In attendance are the soldiers’ grief-struck relatives and friends. The mood is tense.
Senior army chiefs in attendance are commander of the Land Forces Lt. Gen. Katumba Wamala, Defece Minister Crispus Kiyonga, and his deputy Gen. Jeje Odong and several officers from the air force.
12:00pm: Uganda government has said the remains of the seven soldiers who perished in the triple helicopter crashes in Mt. Kenya forest last Sunday will be received at Entebbe airbase today by the UPDF hierarchy.
The helicopters were destined for Somalia on the African Union (AMISOM) peace keeping mission when they mysteriously tumbled down in Mt. Kenya.
Out of 28 Airforce personnel, 7 perished in the flames that burnt the choppers to rubble.
Survivors of the crash were received at Entebbe airbase on Friday morning at a ceremony presided over by the State Minister for Defence Gen. Jeje Odong.
President Yoweri Museveni, also the Commander-in-Chief of the UPDF, has appointed a team of experts headed by Gen Salim Saleh to investigate the cause of the crashes.
“The government reassures the country and the rest of the world that the Somalia mission will not be jeopardized as a result of the helicopter crashes,” Uganda Media Centre boss Fred Opolot said in a statement issued today Saturday.
“Government once again, sends condolences to the families of those who lost their loved ones in the crashes and calls upon Ugandans to remain calm and avoid drawing conclusions based on speculations, as we await answers from the investigating team,” he stated.
According to Opolot, the fallen soldiers will be accorded respectable send off.
The cause of the multiple chopper crashes remains a mystery but investigators are now looking at possible sabotage by negative regional forces.
The killed soldiers are:
Capt. William Letti
Lt. Patrick Nahamya
2nd Lt. Robert Mushabe
2nd Lt. Nelson Mulumba
WO. David Kakube
Sgt. Mweshezi Rahumata
Sgt. Charles Lukwag
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Updated on 2013-05-09 09:25 |
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