{"id":299,"date":"2026-10-13T04:45:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T04:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/13\/military-plane-crash-divers-rescue-team-intensify-search-for-victims-bodies-black-box\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T04:45:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T04:45:46","slug":"military-plane-crash-divers-rescue-team-intensify-search-for-victims-bodies-black-box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/13\/military-plane-crash-divers-rescue-team-intensify-search-for-victims-bodies-black-box\/","title":{"rendered":"Military Plane Crash: Divers, rescue team intensify search for victims’ bodies, black box"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

One week after the crash of a Nigerian Air Force aircraft, divers and rescue teams have intensified their search for the black box and the bodies of the victims of the accident.<\/p>\n

The ill-fated ATR-42 aircraft plunged into a swamp in Igbokoda, headquarters of Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State<\/a><\/strong> on 5 October, killing all 25 people on board.<\/p>\n

The week-long search for the bodies of the victims and the wreckage, which began immediately after the accident occurred, has resulted in the filtering out of their torn pieces, making identification very difficult.<\/p>\n

The operation has also recovered broken parts of the plane.<\/p>\n

When PREMIUM TIMES visited the site on Monday, rescuers were still digging deep into the muddy waters in search of the black box.<\/p>\n

However, this newspaper learnt that the search team may have finally located the exact crash site.<\/p>\n

\n\"PT<\/a><\/div>\n
\"Dangote<\/a><\/div>\n
\"The
The crash site as seen from the riverbank<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Efforts to get NAF and police officials to confirm the development were unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

It was further gathered that the team has given up on finding the complete bodies of the victims of the crash.<\/p>\n

One of the operators of the swamp buggies used in the search operation, who spoke to our reporter in confidence when he came out of the site for a short break, said the body of the pilot was found inside a part of the plane near the tyre.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found the body of the pilot, but it was cut in the middle and half of it is what was brought out.<\/p>\n

\u201cApart from that, there have been little pieces of the plane here and there. We have little hope of finding anything like the main body because the impact shattered the plane to pieces.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe place is deep, and much of it is muddy. We are now focused on finding the black box. That is the directive we have, and after we find it, I would not know what next will happen,\u201d said the operator, who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak.<\/p>\n

\"The
The floater under construction<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meanwhile, at the riverbank, our reporter noticed technicians assembling a floater for the swamp buggies, also known as amphibious excavators, suggesting more machinery would be deployed for deeper searches.<\/p>\n

READ ALSO:\u00a0Poor record-keeping caused confusion over NAF crash manifest \u2013 Ex-SSS director<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

One of the technicians told PREMIUM TIMES that once complete, the tank-like equipment would be attached to the buggies to withstand the terrain\u2019s pressure and let the excavators float easily across the muddy water.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, we attached the floaters of a swamp buggy which was taken to the site for work. Once we are done with this one (pointing to the one under construction), the same thing will be done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"The
The floater<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Concerns over water pollution<\/strong><\/h3>\n

However, fresh concerns about water pollution have emerged, as the buggie operator noted aviation fuel and oil in the water, alongside the victims\u2019 purifying body parts.<\/p>\n

Residents say the river is also the Igbokoda community\u2019s main water source.<\/p>\n

The community\u2019s traditional ruler, Afolabi Odidiomo, had earlier raised concerns about possible water pollution given the nature of the crash.<\/p>\n

Mr Odidiomo said the difficult recovery conditions remained a major concern, particularly because bodies may have been in the surrounding water.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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One week after the crash of a Nigerian Air Force aircraft, divers and rescue teams have intensified their search for the black box and the bodies of the victims of… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":300,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}