THE helicopter that crashed on Salvation Road, Opebi, in the Ikeja area of Lagos State on Friday, was two minutes away from landing at Murtala Muhammed Airport, authorities have disclosed.

The Bell 206-B3 helicopter belonging to Quorum Aviation crashed into a residential apartment located at No 16 Salvation Road in at about 12 noon leaving three dead including the pilot.

In a Twitter post, Hadi Sirika, the Minister of Aviation shared his condolences to the family of the deceased and revealed that investigation has commenced to unravel the cause of the crash.

” With heavy heart I wish to condole the families, friends and the Aviation community on the death of the occupants of the Quorum Helicopters that crashed this afternoon in Lagos. Investigation has commenced and will be fast tracked. The outcome will be made public,” Sidirika said.

Punch reports that Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), the investigating body in charge of all aviation-related accidents and incidents in Nigeria, also disclosed that investigation was ongoing.

The AIB however, noted that the helicopter didn’t have a black box, a device that stores data about planes and often used to determine cause in air accidents.

“It is not every aircraft that carries black boxes, especially helicopters, some of them have but some of them don’t have based on the manufacturer’s design. But in this case, the Bell 206-B3 helicopter did not carry any black box,” Tunji Oketumbi, AIB General Manager, Public Affairs was quoted as said.

The AIB in a statement urged eye-witnesses to provide footage to help in its investigation to unravel circumstances which led to the crash.