SAD!! Many UPDF Soldiers Feared Dead As Another UPDF Chopper Crashes In Fort-Portal – Details Emerge

In the news this evening, a chopper belonging to the Uganda People’s Defense Forces has crashed in Fort Portal.

This accident comes at the backdrop of another military spy chopper which crashed in Kasese on 29th December 2023 bringing the total two choppers bursting in flames in the area infested by ADF rebels.Available information reveal that the helicopter crashed in Karugutu in Ntoroko district.

It was heading to Congo after taking off from Ssaka airfield in Kichwamba sub-county.Eye witnesses who preferred not to be named to speak freely say it the chopper first hit a house roof which forced to down down in frames and reduced to ashes. It’s not yet clear, how many people were on board and the causalities.

UPDF together with the Congolese army launched both ground and aerial assault operations against the Allied Defense Forces (ADF) who have launched quite several attacks on Uganda last year. They are based in Eastern Congo; an area they’ve occupied since mid 1990s.

The Army is yet to speak about the incident but it has lost over 8 Choppers in the last 3 years to accidents.UPDF crashes are on the rise. On July 29 2023, yet another UPDF Russian-made helicopter crashed while in operation in Moroto. Luckily there were no casualties according to the army.

This crash was preceded by two recent Mi-17 and Mi-24 helicopter crashes within hours of each other, in western Uganda and eastern DRC.In February 2022, two cadet trainees of the Uganda military were injured when a military helicopter they were traveling in crash-landed soon after take-off at the Entebbe International Airport, 40 km south of Kampala, the capital of Uganda.

The February accident occurred just after a week when another Ugandan military helicopter crashed in Somalia, injuring four soldiers on an African Union peacekeeping mission.In January 2020, the military lost two soldiers in a Jet Ranger which crashed in the central district of Gomba.