Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State says no survivor has been found yet after a Nigerian Air Force aircraft crashed in the Igbokoda area of the Ilaje Local Government Area of the stateon Monday morning, October 5.
The governor said this on Monday hours after the incident, disclosing that residents, emergency responders and security personnel searched the crash site but have yet to find anyone alive.
“No survivors yet from the information I’ve gotten from the people in there. I’ve not been able to speak to the Naval captain who is leading the base, but my security advisor got in contact with the Amotekun leader in the local government and the local government chairman. From all indications, there are no survivors yet that we can record.”
Twenty-five passengers and seven crew members were aboard the aircraft, which was on a “routine mission” from Benin City in Edo State to Lagos when it went down at Igbokoda in Ondo State shortly after 9:00 am (0800 GMT).
Narrating how the incident occurred, the Ondo governor said
“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. So immediately, the Nigerian Navy men—from the information I got—stayed back a bit so that there wouldn’t be an explosion or fire outbreak. So, when they noticed that it was just an area and they didn’t see any sign of fire, they moved in, trying to see if they could rescue the people.
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.
They could not see any living soul that was in that aircraft, but they saw the ruins, some of the wreckage from the wings of the aircraft, with some ID cards that were retrieved, and then some uniforms. That was when they knew it was a military aircraft.”