Follow Us on Google
Residents of Igbokoda in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State have recounted their desperate but unsuccessful efforts to rescue passengers and crew trapped inside a Nigerian Air Force ATR-42 aircraft that crashed in a swampy area of the community.
The aircraft, with tail number NGR 931, was carrying 25 passengers and seven crew members when it crashed near the Naval Base in Igbokoda on Monday. The aircraft was on a routine mission from Benin to Lagos before air traffic controllers lost contact with it at about 9:13am.
According to residents, the crash occurred while it was drizzling, with the aircraft plunging deep into the waterlogged terrain and making access to the wreckage extremely difficult.
One of the residents, Jomiloju, said he was preparing to have his bath when he heard a loud noise that sent people rushing out of their homes.
“I was just trying to have my bath when I heard a loud noise. It was very frightening,” he said.
Jomiloju said residents followed the direction of the sound and discovered that the aircraft had crashed in the swamp. They then used canoes to cross to the site, but found the larger part of the aircraft buried deep in the swamp.
“We had to sail to the location in canoes to have a good glimpse of the crashed plane. But all we saw was the wreckage. The larger part of the plane was deep inside the swamp,” he said.
He added that residents returned to the river bank after realising they could not reach the occupants, while naval personnel and police officers also arrived at the location in speedboats.
Another resident, Lucky, said both men and women in the community made efforts to reach the aircraft, but the depth of the swamp prevented them from rescuing anyone.
“We have tried our best to rescue them, but the aircraft was deeply buried inside the swamp. Our people here have tried a lot. Even the women and men took their canoes and crossed to that place to rescue them,” he said.
Bolajoko Ayeni, another resident, said the community members found parts of the wreckage and what appeared to be human remains when they reached the crash site, but were unable to carry out a rescue.
“Immediately it happened, there was nothing we could do. We just ran to the place. When we got there, we saw some parts like human parts,” Ayeni said.
The difficulty in reaching the crash site was later confirmed by the Ondo State Commissioner of Police, Felix Ohagwu, who said the swampy terrain, creeks and mangroves made access and recovery operations extremely difficult.
The crash killed all 32 people on board, according to reports, while the Nigerian Air Force and other emergency agencies continued recovery operations at the difficult terrain. President Bola Tinubu has also ordered an investigation into the cause of the crash.
