Governor Aiyedatiwa visits Igbokoda crash site, orders continued search
Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State on Wednesday visited the scene of the Nigerian Air Force aircraft crash at Igbokoda, headquarters of Ilaje Local Government Area, as search and recovery operations continued for the victims and the main wreckage.
Aiyedatiwa described the crash as a national tragedy, saying no survivor had been found at the scene as of the time of his visit. The aircraft, which was carrying Nigerian Air Force personnel on a special mission from Benin to Lagos, crashed at Igbokoda on Monday.
The governor said the aircraft was believed to have been carrying about 25 occupants, adding that only the pilot could have explained the cause of the crash. He said parts of bodies, clothes, jackets belonging to Air Force personnel and broken aircraft parts had been recovered and preserved for further investigation.
Aiyedatiwa, who visited the site alongside personnel of the Nigerian Navy and Air Force, divers, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Director for the Southwest, the State Emergency Management Agency director and local residents involved in the rescue efforts, described the scene as a “very gory sight”.
He said the main body of the aircraft had not been sighted as it was believed to be submerged in the swamp. According to him, the difficult terrain prompted him to direct the Ministry of Works to deploy two amphibious machines, popularly known as swamp boogies, to improve access through the waterways and enable rescue teams to move bigger boats closer to the crash site.
The governor said Navy personnel and local divers were continuing to search the deeper sections of the area for possible bodies, the cockpit and other parts of the wreckage. He added that the swamp could have caused the aircraft to become deeply submerged in the mud, while jet fuel was also flowing into the water and polluting the area.
Aiyedatiwa said the aircraft could have caused a greater disaster if it had crashed within the community, noting that residents who witnessed the incident said it appeared to be coming down with a sound suggesting an engine problem. He said the pilot apparently manoeuvred the aircraft away from the community before it crashed about 200 metres away and went into the swamp.
The governor commiserated with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Nigerian Air Force and the families of the deceased, describing the victims as young and capable Nigerians who had committed themselves to defending the country.
