Twenty-one days after the Nigerian Air Force ATR-42 aircraft, NAF 931, crashed into the Obe-Rebby swamp in Igbokoda, Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State, not a single body of the 25 victims has been recovered.
The aircraft crashed at about 9:13 a.m. on Monday, October 6, 2026, minutes after taking off from Benin Airport. It was carrying 20 passengers and five crew members. The aircraft was en route to Lagos after developing an engine fault overnight in Benin City.
According to a report by SaharaReporters, three weeks after the crash families of the victims said they had not seen a single body to give their loved ones a befitting burial.
“As we speak today, October 27, not one body has been shown to us. Not one. How do we bury someone we cannot see? How do we give them their last respect?” a relative of one of the victims who was on the Abuja-Benin-Lagos run was quoted as saying.
“They told us the swamp swallowed everything, but we saw how they recovered bodies in other crashes abroad. Why is this one different? They have abandoned our people inside that swamp.”
Multiple family members who spoke to the newspaper, said the military had not provided them with a detailed briefing on the recovery operation since the initial press statement confirming the crash.
“First, they said it was a routine mission from Benin to Lagos. We proved it was an Abuja-Lagos passenger flight that slept in Benin for engine repair. Now they are silent on recovery. They have not called us for identification or DNA or anything,” another family source said. It is as if they want us to forget. But we cannot forget people we have not buried.”
The swamp into which the aircraft plunged, is said to be located near the Naval Base in Igbokoda, a dense, waterlogged mangrove forest that has complicated recovery efforts.
Local divers and fishermen initially volunteered to assist with the operation but were later asked to stay away by security operatives.
A community source in Ilaje was quoted as saying “The place where it crashed is a deep swamp. You cannot enter without a swamp buggy. At first, local boys went there with NAF, but now nobody is allowed. They say NAF brought its own team. Since then, no update.”
The report said efforts to obtain a reaction from NAF spokesperson, Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, were unsuccessful as of press time, while calls and messages sent to his known phone line were not returned.
Credit: SaharaReporters