Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State has visited the site of the Nigerian Air Force aircraft crash at Igbokoda, directing a sustained search for the remains of the victims and wreckage of the aircraft.
Aiyedatiwa, who gave the directive at the scene of the incident on Wednesday, described the accident as a national tragedy.
The military aircraft with 25 people on board, was on a special mission from Benin to Lagos, when it crashed at about 11.00a.m on Monday.
The governor visited the scene alongside personnel of the Nigerian Navy and Air Force, divers, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Director for the South-West and locals involved in the recovery efforts.
Aiyedatiwa, who described the scene as a “very gory sight”, said parts of bodies, clothes, jackets belonging to the Air Force personnel and broken aircraft parts had been recovered and preserved for further investigation.
According to him, the difficulty in accessing the crash site prompted him to direct the Ministry of Works to deploy two amphibious machines, popularly known as swamp boogies, to improve access through the waterways.
He said the main body of the aircraft was yet to be sighted, adding that machines had enabled recovery teams to move bigger boats closer to the site to excavate the soil in search of other parts of the main body of the aircraft.
The governor said Navy personnel and local divers were continuing the search in the deeper sections of the area for possible bodies and the cockpit.
“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.
Aiyedatiwa also disclosed that jet fuel was flowing into the water, resulting in pollution of the area with aviation fuel.
He expressed gratitude that the aircraft did not crash in the middle of the community, saying such an occurrence would have resulted in a major catastrophe.
“Only the pilot would have been able to explain the efforts made to manoeuvre the aircraft. From accounts given by residents, they saw the aircraft descending with what sounded like an engine problem.
“It was coming down and almost appeared set to crash within the community. However, the pilot was able to manoeuvre the aircraft and bring it down about 200 metres away from the community before it went into the swampy area.
“The terrain is so soft that it appears the aircraft may have sunk deep into the mud, which is why it has not been seen.
“From construction experience and analysis of the terrain, reaching refusal level during piling operations in this area can require going as deep as 35 to 40 kilometres,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Commander of the Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base, Igbokoda, Capt. Andy Alemongwa, briefed the governor on the progress of the search and recovery operations.
