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There is hardly a year gone without experiencing the
incident of Air crashes as it has almost become an annual
event in Nigeria. No serious steps were seen to have been
taken by government officials and stakeholders playing the
game according to the rule, to forestall the loss of friends
and relatives in air crash disasters.
The frequent cases of this ugly development nation wide
remind me of a story narrated by Taiwo Olanrewaju in one
of his articles titled: Towards Minimizing Air crash in
Nigeria. He said, two friends were going on a trip by air to
Abuja from Lagos, Nigeria. As the plane was about to take-
off, the passengers were unusually quiet but not Kehinde,
one of the two friends. He chatted continuously with his
friend, Richard, who was also quiet.
As soon as the aircraft was airborne and balanced, Richard
asked Kehinde whether he did not know that take-off and
landing periods are critical moments during flights and rather
than converse, the passengers pray to God for safe take-off
and landing.
Kehinde, in his humorous manner, however, replied that he
prayed before leaving home but that if he was called upon to
lead a prayer session in the plane, he would first ask God
for forgiveness on behalf of all passengers. Reason?
Richard wondered. Simply because God created humans to
live on the land, birds to fly in the air and fishes to live in
the sea. “What are we doing here in the air if I may ask?
I personally don’t understand. Can’t you see that we have
overstepped our bounds?,” Kehinde added.
The meaning of this is that, travelling by air which ordinarily
needs to be a pride of joy and welcome development in
Nigeria is gradually becoming out of bound . Simply because,
no one is enthusiastic to travel by air except on some few
unavoidable circumstances.Whereas, it is a modern
development embarked upon by countries of the world and
Nigeria cannot shy away from the act. But it is so sad that
Nigeria is synonymous with air crashes. Here is a brief look
into the cases of air crashes in Nigeria and their dire
consequences:
According to Nigerian Tribune’s investigation, the very first
air crash occurred at about 8:15 pm on Sunday, April 12,
1942 at Igbo Ilapa, now known as Igbo Aeroplane in
Ikogosi in Ekiti-West Local Government Area of Ekiti
State. The cargo plane, which crash landed on the
community, known for its warm and cold spring water, was
said to be carrying war ammunition during the Second
World War.
The number of people on board could not be ascertained.
The second did not occur until 20 years later, precisely on
Thursday, November 20, 1969 when a Nigeria Airways
BAC VC10 crashed on landing, killing 87 people on board.
Similarly, next was on Monday, January 22, 1973 when
Royal Jordanian Airlines flight 707 carrying 171 Nigerian
Muslims returning from Mecca and five crewmen crashed in
Kano, killing all on board while on Wednesday, March 1,
1978, a Nigeria Airways F28-1000 crashed in Kano, killing
16 people and five years after, on November 28, 1983:
Nigeria Airways F28-1000 crashed near Enugu, killing 53
on board while in December 1988, a
SkypowerBrandeironte aircraft overshot Ilorin Airport’s
runway, killing all the passengers.
However, the history of multiple crashes in a single year
began in 1991, with the first plane crash being on Sunday,
February 24, 1991 when a British Helicopter crashed in
Eket, AkwaIbom State, killing all nine people on board and
the second on Tuesday, May 21, 1991, a Cessna Citation 550
of Ashaka Cement, Hombe, crashed, killing all on board
while the third was on Wednesday, June 26 of the same
year, when an Okada Air Bac-11 crashed in Sokoto,
killing three persons.
On Saturday, September 26, 1992, a Nigerian Air Force
AC- 130 plane crashed minutes after take-off from Lagos,
killing all 200 on board while on Saturday, June 24 and
Monday, November 13 respectively in 1995, a Harka Air
Services Tupolev 34 crashed on landing in Lagos, killing 16
and another Nigeria Airways Boeing 737-2F9 crashed and killed people in Kaduna
The trend continued and on Wednesday, January 17, 1996
when Ibrahim Abacha, son of then military Head of State
SaniAbacha, was killed in a plane crash. The group “United
Front for Nigeria’s Liberation” (UFNL) claimed
responsibility for the crash. Ibrahim was in the company of
some of his friends, young promising Nigerians, when the
crash occurred. Also in November of the same year, a
Nigerian ADC (Aviation Development Corporation) Airline
Boeing 727-231 flying from Port Harcourt to Lagos with
142 passengers and nine crew members crashed on landing,
plunging into the lagoon with all 151 souls on board killed.
Likewise on Friday, January 31, 1997, five people lost their
lives when a Sky Power Express Airways Embraer
110PIA crashed on landing in Yola while 10 people
miraculously escaped death on September 12 of same year
when NAF Dornier 228-212 in Nguru, BornoState ran
into a ditch during take-off.
17 people died in the crash of January 2000 while another
six sustained injury in the crash of October of the same year
but in 2002, while 76 of the 105 people on board lost their
lives, similar fate befell 72 people on ground who were not
connected with the flight, but were busy going about their
daily duties when an EAS Airlines’ BAC 1-11-500
crashed and burst into flames in a densely populated suburb
of Kano.
On November 30, 2003, a Cargo aircraft of Hydro Cargo,
Brussels, Belgium, crash-landed; on March 6, 2004, an
Aenail spray aircraft with registration number 5NBEF
belonging to Berfieex Nigeria Ltd, crashed at the Bauchi
Airport; on July 26, 2004, Pan African Airlines’ helicopter
crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in Eacraros, DeltaState,
killing four persons on board; on December 29, 2004, a
Boeing 727 of ChanchangiAirlines belly-landed at the
MMA and a Kenya Airlines aircraft crashed- landed at the
MMA due to gear fault.
The year 2005 recorded 10 crashes on January 28,
February 25, March 27, June 11 and 12, June 24, July 6
and 23, October 22 and December 10. Although some of the
aircrafts did not carry passengers, over 500 passengers lost
their lives to the different crashes, including 60 students of
JesuitLoyolaCollege, Abuja while cows that were grazing
close to the Port-Harcourt airport were not spared in one
of the crashes.
Three crashes took place in 2006, one crash respectively in
2007, 2008 and 2011 before the Dana air crash of Sunday,
June 3, 2012 in which 153 people on board and over 40
people on ground lost their lives in Lagos.
The latest air crash took place few days ago on August 13,
2015, a Bristow helicopter with registration number 5N-
BDG 760540 which crashed into the Lagos Lagoon at the
Oworonshoki end of Third Mainland Bridge. Four (4)
people were reported dead by National Emergency
Management Agency (NEMA) officials out of twelve people
on board.
The causes of the different crashes have been traced to
engine failure; lack of qualified meteorologists and pilots; bad
weather; human error, which according to the Aviation
Investigation Bureau (AIB) include non-lightening of
runways and airfields, poorly constructed drainage culverts,
inaccurate information by the control tower, lack of proper
certification of radio operators and poor supervision of
aircraft imported into the country; bird strikes; apron
congestion; poor maintenance of aircraft and airport
equipment; negligence and dereliction of duty of aviation
staff.
But the truth of the matter is that, no Nigeria Airline is
using latest model aircraft rather than antiquated and
abandoned ones being imported into Nigeria as a dumping
ground for all sorts and nothing else. Infact, most of these
airlines, which both Nigerians and foreigners are operating in
Nigeria’s local and international aircrafts are old compared
to aircrafts belonging to foreign airlines. In developed
countries, plane mishaps have some limitation unlike here in
Nigeria where it is becoming the order of the day.
With the quantum of death being recorded in the aviation
industry, it is high time.
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