Plane Crash: Aiyedatiwa visits site, says aircraft’s main body yet to surface, human parts recovered

Search operations continued on Wednesday at the site of the crash of the Nigerian Air Force plane at Igbokoda, headquarters of Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State. Still, divers could not locate the main body of the aircraft.

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The divers, comprising the Police, Navy and locals, including members of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), only managed to bring out some human body parts as well as pieces of the aircraft.

Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa disclosed this to journalists during an assessment visit to the crash site.

Mr Aiyedatiwa visited the site alongside personnel of the Nigerian Navy and Nigerian Air Force, divers, the South-west Director of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Director of the State Emergency Management Agency and residents who had participated in rescue efforts since Monday.

The ill-fated ATR-42 aircraft, which was carrying Nigerian Air Force personnel on a special mission from Benin to Lagos, crashed at Igbokoda on Monday morning.

NAF authorities said 26 people were on board the aircraft at the time it crashed.

According to the governor, no survivors had been found, noting that only parts of bodies, clothes and jackets belonging to Air Force personnel and broken aircraft parts were recovered and preserved for further investigation.

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He said the main body of the aircraft had not been sighted as it was believed to be submerged in the swamp.

Mr Aiyedatiwa, from the local government area where the crash occurred, explained that the difficulty of accessing the site prompted him to direct the Ministry of Works to deploy two amphibious machines, popularly known as swamp buggies, to open wider access through the waterways.

He said the machines had enabled rescue teams to move bigger boats closer to the crash site and were being used to excavate the soil in search of other parts of the wreckage or the main body of the aircraft.

The governor further said the aircraft had still not been sighted as of the time of his visit. At the same time, Navy personnel and local divers continued searching the deeper sections of the area for possible bodies and the cockpit.

Mr Aiyedatiwa said only the pilot could have explained the cause of the crash, adding that the occupants were believed to have died.

He said the swamp’s nature and depth could have caused the aircraft to become deeply submerged in the mud.

“From construction experience and analysis of this area, for you to get to refusal level, it’ll get to about 30 metres deep,” he said, adding that the aircraft could have gone completely into the mud.

He said jet fuel was flowing into the water, polluting the area with aviation fuel.

He said he was grateful the aircraft did not crash in the middle of the community, adding that it would have been a major catastrophe.

According to him, residents who witnessed the incident said the aircraft appeared to be coming down with a sound suggesting a bad engine and was almost landing within the community.

He said the pilot managed to manoeuvre the aircraft away from the community before it landed about 200 metres away and went straight into the swamp.

The governor said only the pilot could have explained the effort made to manoeuvre the aircraft away from the community.

Mr Aiyedatiwa also sympathised with the families of the deceased and the Nigerian Air Force, describing the victims as able and young Nigerians who had signed up to defend and protect the territorial integrity of the country.

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He, however, said that based on what had been seen at the crash site, he doubted whether any of the victims could return to life.

“May their souls rest in peace,” he prayed.

Mr Aiyedatiwa, however, urged the search and rescue teams to intensify efforts to get out the remaining parts of the aircraft and the bodies of the victims.

Earlier, the Commander of the Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base, Igbokoda, Andy Alemongwa, briefed the governor on the progress of the search-and-rescue operation.

Also on Wednesday, the Flag Officer Commanding, Western Naval Command, Abubakar Mustapha, and the Air Officer Commanding, Logistics Command, Nigerian Air Force, Abubakar Suleh, inspected the crash site of the Nigerian Air Force ATR-42.

Mr Mustapha, a rear admiral, conveyed the appreciation of the Chief of Defence Staff, Olufemi Oluyede, a general, and the service chiefs to the Ondo State Government, communities, emergency agencies and other stakeholders for their support since the incident occurred.

He urged stakeholders to remain calm and continue to cooperate with the various agencies involved in the recovery operation.

At the site, the team assessed the situation and provided technical guidance to facilitate the timely recovery of the submerged aircraft and its contents.

As part of the recovery efforts, the team began an underwater survey using side-scan sonar equipment to map the crash site and determine the submerged aircraft’s position.

The sonar survey is expected to help divers and other technical personnel locate the aircraft and plan subsequent recovery operations, including deploying a swamp buggy to facilitate excavation in the difficult terrain.