A navy helicopter crashed Saturday in the country's oil-rich southern delta, killing a state governor and five other people, in the latest air disaster to hit Africa's most populous nation, AP quoted officials as saying. Nigeria's ruling party said in a statement that the governor of the central Nigerian state of Kaduna, Patrick Yakowa, died in the helicopter crash in Bayelsa state in the Niger Delta. The People's Democratic Party's statement described Yakowa's death as a "colossal loss." The statement said the former national security adviser, General Andrew Azazi, also died in the crash. Yushau Shuaib, a spokesman for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency, said four other bodies had been found, but he could not immediately give their identities. The crash occurred at about 3:30 p.m. after the navy helicopter took off from the village of Okoroba in Bayelsa state where officials had gathered to attend the burial of the father of a presidential aide, said Commodore Kabir Aliyu. He said that the helicopter was headed for Nigeria's oil capital of Port Harcourt when it crashed in the Nembe area of Bayelsa state.
