The Nigerian Air Force aircraft that crashed in Igbokoda, Ondo State, on Monday reportedly had 32 people on board, but no survivor had been found hours after the accident.
Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa said residents, emergency workers and security personnel searched the crash site after the aircraft went down shortly after 9:00 am.
As earlier reported by NewDailyPrime, the aircraft had 25 crew members and seven passengers on board.
It was on a routine mission from Benin City in Edo State to Lagos when it crashed in Igbokoda, Ilaje Local Government Area. No survivor was recorded.
Aiyedatiwa gave this update on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Monday, saying information from people at the site showed that nobody had been rescued alive.
“No survivors yet from the information I’ve gotten from the people in there,” Aiyedatiwa said.
He said he had not spoken directly with the Naval captain leading the base but received information through his security adviser, the Amotekun leader in Ilaje and the local government chairman.
“From all indications, there are no survivors yet that we can record,” he said.
Search teams found wreckage in swamp
The governor said people near the crash site heard a sound before some residents saw the aircraft go into a swamp.
“They, people in the area, heard the sound like an air tremor – the shaking. There was no fire, nothing, but some people saw the aircraft nose-dive into the swamp area,” he said.
Nigerian Navy personnel initially stayed back because of fears that the crash could lead to an explosion or fire outbreak.
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After they saw no sign of fire, they entered the area to search for possible survivors. Local emergency workers and residents also joined the search.
The Amotekun base in Ilaje also sent personnel to the site.
Aiyedatiwa said the search did not produce any survivor.
“Then the local emergency management agency from the local government also tried to move in with residents. Then the Amotekun base at Ilaje Local Government also moved in on time to see if they could rescue some of the victims, but from the information we got, no single life was saved up to this moment.”
The teams found parts of the aircraft, including sections of the wings. They also recovered some identity cards and uniforms.
“That was when they knew it was a military aircraft,” the governor said.
A video circulating on social media showed a small crowd near a river as rescuers searched the area with boats.
Dayo Akinte, a 39-year-old firewood hawker who lives about one kilometre from the crash site, told AFP that she heard a sound she thought was thunder around the time she believed the aircraft went down.
What readers should know
The aircraft was travelling from Benin City to Lagos on what the governor called a routine mission when it crashed in Igbokoda.
The people on board were 25 crew members and seven passengers. The available information from the crash site showed no survivor had been found after the search began.
The cause of the crash had not been established on Monday. Aiyedatiwa said the Nigerian Air Force was “trying to look at the cause” of the incident.
He said the incident had caused mourning in the state and among Nigerians, especially because military personnel were among those on board.
“So everybody has been mourning what happened to Nigerian military officers who signed up to protect the territorial integrity of our country and are involved in such accidents. It is so painful.”
The governor also expressed sympathy to the families of those on board and the Nigerian Air Force.
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