Helicopter carrying Nigerian officials crashes

— A rescue agency spokesman said a helicopter carrying Nigerian government officials crashed in the country’s oil-rich southern delta, causing unknown injuries.

Yushau Shuaibu, a spokesman for Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency, said the helicopter crashed Saturday in Bayelsa state in the Niger Delta. He said the helicopter was carrying high-ranking government officials, but he did not have a final manifest for the flight.

Shuaibu said rescuers have begun searching for the downed helicopter.

Aviation disasters remain all too horribly common in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation. In March, a police helicopter carrying a high-ranking police official crashed in the central Nigerian city of Jos, killing four people.

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