The Ondo state government says it has deployed two specialised swamp buggies to retrieve the wreckage of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) aircraft that crashed in Igbokoda, headquarters of Ilaje LGA, on Monday.
Swamp buggies are specialised vehicles designed to move
through swamps, marshes and other waterlogged or muddy terrain.
Speaking with journalists on Tuesday at the crash site,
Banji Ajaka, Ondo state commissioner for health, said conventional vehicles and
boats could not access the location where the aircraft crashed.
Ajaka said security agencies, local authorities and
emergency responders had been involved in the search and recovery operation
since the incident occurred.
He said the difficult swampy terrain had slowed the
operation, necessitating the deployment of specialised equipment capable of
moving through waterlogged ground.
“The latest is that the swamp buggy has been deployed. Two
of them are here now because that’s what is needed,” Ajaka said.
“It’s not an easy thing. It’s not something that you can
just take a vehicle or a speedboat to.”
The commissioner said the specialised machines would be used
to reach the depth where the aircraft had sunk and facilitate the recovery of
the wreckage and other materials.
“You can see that this one comes with a low bed. I brought
it. This one has to float and swim down to the other side so that they can get
to the depth where the body of the aircraft is,” he said.
He attributed the difficulty in recovering the aircraft to
the force of the impact and its weight, saying it had sunk deep into the swamp.
“It has gone down. You know the force, the weight and the
force with which it went down. So, that is what we’re doing now. There is no
delay. We are deploying as fast as possible,” he said.
The commissioner said senior military officers, including
naval and air force commanders, as well as the state commissioner for
environment, were at the scene to coordinate the recovery efforts.
He added that divers had commenced underwater operations and
were recovering portions of the wreckage, noting that the deeper sections of
the aircraft remained inaccessible until the swamp could be excavated.
“The divers are doing their work. We are bringing wrecks
out,” he said.
“For the body, the real body, this has to go down. We have
to excavate deep down for the aircraft to be brought out.
“We have not seen a major body. By the time we bring the
body out, we will be able to see the corpses.”
Ajaka described the crash as a “sad situation”, extending
the state government’s condolences to the NAF, the Armed Forces, the affected
families and the people of Ondo.
He said the aircraft, an ATR-42 with tail number NGR 931,
crashed about 500 metres east of the Nigerian Naval Forward Operating Base in
Igbokoda after the pilots apparently diverted it away from the densely
populated community.
According to him, the pilots’ decision to divert the
aircraft may have prevented what could have been a far greater tragedy in the
coastal town, given the number of people onboard.
The NAF said 20 passengers and five crew members were
onboard the aircraft when it crashed near a naval base in Igbokoda.
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