Plane crash in Nigeria leaves all 25 aboard dead
Story By Staff Reporter
Nigeria’s air force has said that all 25 people on a plane that crashed in the country’s south were killed.
The Nigerian Air Force confirmed that the aircraft went down in Ondo state on Monday.
According to authorities, the ATR-42 was carrying 20 passengers and five crew members on a routine flight to Lagos, the country’s economic hub.
The plane disappeared from radar and was later found to have come down near a naval base in the riverside town of Igbokoda.
Aviation minister Festus Keyamo had earlier said there were 32 people on the jet, though officials have not explained the discrepancy between the two figures.
Air chief Sunday Kelvin Aneke called the crash a “deeply painful moment for the Nigerian Air Force and the nation.”
President Bola Tinubu announced three days of national mourning and ordered flags to be flown at half-mast across the country in honor of the victims.
He said he had instructed the air force to launch an immediate and thorough investigation into what caused the crash so that similar accidents can be prevented.
Neither the scale of the damage nor the cause of the crash has been established.
The Nigerian military commonly uses the ATR-42 for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as for moving personnel and supplies.
Residents said the aircraft came down near a river and was partly submerged. Videos shared online that appeared to show the scene captured crowds gathered at the riverbank, trying to reach the wreckage.
One witness, Akinbulejo Pius, said they heard a sound “like a thunder strike” and that the plane passed over some trees before it crashed.
