Helicopter Crash: Federal Gov’t Contacts Neighbouring Countries Over 3 Missing Bodies

The federal government said it has contacted neighbouring countries for the search and recovery of the remaining three bodies from the helicopter crash in Rivers State on Thursday, October 24, 2024.

Minister of aviation and aerospace development, Festus Keyamo, who revealed this while briefing journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, alongside the director-general of the National Safety and Investigation Bureau (NSIB), Alex Badeh Jr, also said the recovered ‘black box’ of the ill-fated helicopter has been moved to Abuja on November 11 and it was undergoing investigation.

He also said that out of the eight persons on the flight, three bodies were still missing while five bodies had been discovered. One passenger and two crew members were yet to be found.

Also speaking, the DG NSIB Badeh assured Nigerians that they were now on long-term search and recovery phase as the federal government will not give up search for the remaining three bodies.

He said they have notified other neighbouring countries, especially as one of the five bodies was found in Cameroon, noting that the agency was offering support to families of the victims.

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While giving details of the findings, Badeh said: “As you may recall, the ill-fated helicopter crashed about 1.4 km from its destination on the NNPC’s Floating Production Storage Offloading vessel (FPSO) (Nuim Antan). As soon as the area of the crash was identified, the Nigerian Air Force conveyed our Go-Team to Port Harcourt, from where the Go-Team was transported to the Nuim Antan vessel on a Nigerian Navy AgustaWestland (AW109) helicopter on the same day of the accident.

“Meanwhile, search and rescue was activated, and a team comprising teams from the NNPC, Nigerian Navy, NSIB, Hydro Dive, NIMASA and the ships sailing around the vicinity of the
accident site. Underwater recovery of victims and wreckage is a significant project that requires careful planning and provision of technology, expertise, and substantial financial resources to support the operation.

“Over 60 personnel mobilised to the site, including professional divers and other
technical experts. We deployed marine vessels and diver boats equipped with sophisticated state-of-the-art gadgets for scanning the sea bed and tracking. The depth of the sea around the vicinity of the accident site varied from 40 to 100 meters. The search and rescue operation was interrupted several times by heavy rains, oceanic currents and strong winds. It is imperative to mention that the search and
recovery operations continued unabated day and night on a 24×7 basis for 14 days.

“On day 1 of the accident, three bodies of some debris suspected to be from the crashed helicopter were spotted floating and were picked up. So far, five bodies identified to be of the deceased passengers were recovered, while one passenger and two (2) crew members are yet to be found.

“At midnight of October 31, 2024, the wreckage of the helicopter was finally located at a depth of 42m, Latitude 04° 13.634’N and Longitude 008 19.442’E. Although scattered in pieces, major parts and components of the helicopter, except for the flight recorder (Black Box), were recovered, including the fuselage, two engines, main gearbox, landing gears, main and tail rotor, tail rotor shaft, etc. The search and recovery efforts continued until the flight recorder was found on Friday, 8 November 2024.
The search and recovery operations took over 14 days.”