Nigeria confirms 25 dead in Ondo military aircraft crash

The Nigerian Air Force has confirmed that all 25 people aboard an ATR-42 aircraft died after it crashed near Igbokoda in Ondo State during a routine mission. The aircraft, identified as NAF 931, was travelling from Benin to Lagos when it went down on Monday, according to Punch Nigeria. The Air Force said the victims included five crew members and released their names on Tuesday.

Among them was Squadron Leader Ahamefule Aham Man-Ugwueje, a pilot from Abia State whom Governor Alex Otti separately mourned in a statement issued through his media adviser, Ferdinand Ekeoma. Otti described the crash as devastating for the victims’ families, the Nigerian Air Force and the wider country. He highlighted that Man-Ugwueje had married Flight Lieutenant Damilola Adekunle in Abuja on September 19, around two weeks before the crash, and extended condolences to the couple’s relatives and the people of Umuahia, where the pilot came from.

The circumstances of the crash remained under investigation. Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke, the Chief of the Air Staff, said a comprehensive inquiry had been ordered to establish what happened. The reports do not identify a suspected technical fault, weather condition or other immediate cause.

Recovery operations were complicated by the crash site’s location in a swamp or river area. Ondo State Commissioner for Environment Tob Loko told Premium Times that the aircraft appeared to have plunged nose-first into the water and broken into two sections before reaching the riverbed. Local divers initially struggled to locate the main wreckage and were able to recover only parts of the aircraft, according to Loko.

Smaller boats were considered inadequate, prompting the state government to bring in floating excavators and swamp buggies. The intended plan was for divers to attach the wreckage to an excavator crane so it could be lifted from the water. Loko said the site was about 500 metres from Igbokoda, while Works Commissioner Ayoronde Olawoye said meaningful progress could be made within several hours once the heavier equipment reached the scene.

However, Premium Times reported that operators spent several hours trying to attach floating tanks to one excavator, and that nightfall threatened to slow the effort. Officials cautioned against drawing conclusions before the wreckage could be examined. Olawoye said information about the crash and the possibility of survivors should be treated as uncertain until equipment reached the site.

The Air Force’s confirmation that all 25 people had died subsequently settled the reported death toll, but the cause of the accident remained for investigators to determine.