A devastating military aircraft crash in Nigeria’s southern Ondo State has claimed the lives of all 32 people on board, prompting President Bola Tinubu to announce three days of national mourning for the victims. According to official statements, the ATR-42 model aircraft, which was carrying 25 passengers and seven crew members, was on a routine scheduled flight from Benin City to Lagos when it went down near a naval installation in Igbokoda early Monday morning.
Local residents who witnessed the incident confirmed the crash site is located in a swampy area near the town. Debris including personal items such as clothing and footwear has been recovered from the crash zone, and plumes of smoke were visible rising from the wreckage in the immediate aftermath of the accident. In a formal address following the tragedy, President Tinubu extended his heartfelt condolences to the families of all those killed, and honored the service of the military personnel on board.
“This is a painful moment for our Armed Forces and for the entire nation,” Tinubu said in the statement. “Our Air Force personnel put their lives on the line every day to secure Nigeria. Their sacrifice will never be forgotten.”
As a mark of national respect, the president ordered all national flags across Nigeria to be flown at half-mast throughout the three-day mourning period. He has also directed Nigeria’s Air Force to launch a full, comprehensive investigation into the root cause of the crash, with the goal of identifying safety gaps and preventing similar deadly accidents in the future.
Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo first confirmed the incident to the public, noting that air traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft, registration NGR 931, at 9:13 a.m. local time. Keyamo added that repeated attempts to reestablish communication with the flight via radio were unsuccessful, and crash confirmation came shortly after when search teams located the wreckage near the Igbokoda naval base. At the time of the announcement, Keyato said search and recovery operations were actively underway at the site.
Built by European aircraft manufacturer ATR, the ATR-42 is a regional turboprop aircraft with a standard passenger capacity ranging from 30 to 50 people, matching the size of the flight involved in Monday’s crash. Official authorities have not yet released the identities of the deceased, confirming that next of kin for all fallen service members will be notified before any names are made public.
The Nigerian Air Force is a central component of the country’s national security apparatus, leading ongoing operations to counter insurgent groups and address widespread insecurity across multiple regions of the West African nation. Monday’s crash ranks among the deadliest aviation accidents to hit Nigeria in recent years, marking the latest in a string of deadly military air disasters in the country.
In May 2021, Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru was killed alongside 10 other senior officers when their plane crashed in the northwestern state of Kaduna during severe weather conditions. Just three months earlier, in February 2021, seven people died after a military plane crashed short of a runway in Nigeria’s capital city of Abuja.