Two more bodies have been recovered from the Sikorsky S-76 helicopter accident in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), said yesterday.
The number of recovered bodies was five out of the eight onboard the helicopter when the incident happened.
Speaking on yesterday’s edition of Channels Television’s breakfast show, ‘Sunrise Daily’, the director general of NSIB, Capt Alex Badeh Jr, said more bodies had been recovered while three more persons remained unaccounted for.
“We have recovered two more bodies, making it a total of five. There are three more down there that hopefully will be recovered today,” he stated.
When asked if there were chances that none of those onboard the copter survived the crash, Badeh said, “Unfortunately, this time, that is the working theory.”
According to him, investigators are on their way to the scene of the accident, and it will take days for the wreckage of the helicopter to be recovered.
He said, “The priority is to recover the rest of the bodies there, there is a ‘chance’ that some persons onboard the aircraft might be alive. Human beings are resilient, as long as they have their life support devices, there is a chance we might find survivors there.”
The cause of the incident was unclear as of now but Badeh added: “There was so light and moderate rain on their arrival and there was an overcast. We would look into that. That might have a chance or a role to play. Other than that, I can’t really say until we recover the flight recorder and speak to more witnesses there.”
The helicopter, with registration 5N-BQG, operated by Eastwind Aviation, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean one kilometre away from its destination. It was engaged by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
It crashed around 11:22 am along the waterways in the Rivers State capital after taking off from the Port Harcourt Military Base (DNPM) to the FPSO – NUIMS ANTAN oil rig.
