Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has ordered the fumigation of the Igbokoda River and the distribution of nose masks and health kits to residents, nine days after a Nigerian Air Force aircraft plunged into the waterway and killed all 25 people on board. The directive was announced on Wednesday in a statement signed by the state Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Idowu Ajanaku. It followed mounting complaints from residents about a strong stench rising from the crash site, where recovery teams are still working to bring out the wreckage and the remains of victims.
According to the statement, the governor directed the Ministries of Environment and Health to begin “extensive fumigation of the river” to prevent a possible outbreak of disease. The government said the intervention was necessary because the river is a major source of livelihood for Igbokoda and neighbouring communities. The Ilaje Local Government Area was also told to supply potable water by tanker if the river is found to be severely polluted, an arrangement the statement said would remain “pending a lasting intervention to address the pollution”.
The aircraft, an ATR-42 with registration NAF 931, went down on October 5 in a swamp near the Nigerian Navy’s Forward Operating Base in Igbokoda, headquarters of Ilaje Local Government Area. It was on a routine flight from Benin City, Edo State, to Lagos with five crew members and 20 passengers. Contact with air traffic control was lost at about 9.13am. Early casualty figures put the toll at 32 before the Air Force confirmed that 25 people were on board.
The figures place the Igbokoda crash among the worst aviation disasters in the country’s recent history. It is the deadliest air crash in Nigeria since Dana Air Flight 0992 came down at Iju-Ishaga, Lagos, in June 2012, killing all 153 people on board. It is also more than double the toll of the May 2021 crash in Kaduna that killed the then Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru, and 10 others. Three months earlier, in February 2021, seven Air Force personnel died when a Beechcraft King Air 350i crashed near Abuja airport after reporting engine failure.
The aircraft lost at Igbokoda was an ATR 42-500 configured for maritime patrol and operated by the Air Force’s 81 Air Maritime Group. Aviation safety records show it was built in 2008 and delivered to the Nigerian Air Force in 2010, making it about 18 years old. The Air Force has not said what caused the crash and has warned against drawing conclusions before investigators complete their work.
For the people of Igbokoda, the most pressing concern is now the river itself. The Igbokoda monarch, Oba Afolabi Odidiomo, had called on the Federal and Ondo State governments to speed up recovery, saying the stench was worsening daily and blaming it on decomposing remains and spilt aviation fuel. A rescue operator at the site also reported traces of aviation fuel and oil in the water. Residents depend on the river for fishing, cooking and other domestic needs.
Recovery has been slowed by the terrain and by the fact that the aircraft is submerged. The state government deployed amphibious swamp machines to support the Navy, the Air Force, emergency agencies and local divers. The Chief of the Naval Staff, Idi Abbas, also ordered the Navy’s hydrographic department to deploy sonar equipment to map the site and locate the wreckage.
The Air Force has set up a 12-member Aircraft Accident Investigation Board headed by Air Vice Marshal Francis Ankeli, while Air Vice Marshal Ebimobo Ebiowe coordinates recovery. According to the Air Force spokesman, Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, the board will examine operational, technical, environmental, human and organisational factors. Its members include representatives of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau. Investigators began searching for the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder on October 9, and the Air Force has not yet announced their recovery.
The crash has also reached the National Assembly. The House of Representatives has called for an independent investigation and mandated its committees on Air Force, Aviation and Defence to look into the matter amid concerns about aircraft maintenance and funding. The Senate has called for an audit of the Air Force fleet and its maintenance budget. President Bola Tinubu had earlier ordered an investigation into the incident.
In Wednesday’s statement, Aiyedatiwa reiterated the state’s commitment to supporting the Air Force in its evacuation efforts and to protecting the welfare of residents. How quickly the remaining bodies and wreckage are recovered, and what the recorders eventually reveal, will determine the next stage for the families and the Igbokoda community.