Joy and Sunday Micheal were travelling to Lagos to take a step towards the wedding they had hoped to celebrate with their families.
But what should have been a joyful journey towards a new chapter in their lives ended in tragedy when the Nigerian Air Force aircraft conveying them crashed in Ondo State.
Days after the October 5 disaster, their family is struggling to come to terms with the loss of the couple.
Yet, amid the grief, one painful wish is to have their remains recovered so they can be given a proper burial.
“We lost both my brother and his wife in the crash, and we are still mourning,” Sunday’s sister, Damilola, told DECENCY GLOBAL NEWS on Friday.
Damilola explained that the couple had been living together for a while without formalising their relationship.
She said the family’s immediate concern was no longer the wedding plans that had prompted the couple to embark on the ill-fated journey, but the recovery of their remains.
“The only thing we are after now is to reclaim the bodies of my brother and his wife,” she said.
Their mother, Damilola added, was struggling to bear the loss and desperately wanted their remains returned.
“My mother is in pain right now, and the only thing she wants is the remains of her son and his wife,” she added.
The couple was travelling to Lagos for introduction rites ahead of their wedding when the Nigerian Air Force ATR-42 aircraft, with registration number NAF 931, crashed into a swamp near the Nigerian Navy base in Igbokoda, headquarters of the Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State.
Beyond the pain of losing her brother and his partner, Damilola is struggling to understand how such a tragedy could befall a man she described as devoted to God.
“My brother served God; how can we escape life’s tragedies despite prayers?” she asked.
Still struggling to make sense of the disaster, she questioned how an aircraft could develop a fault, lamenting the dangers Nigerians face on their journeys.
The Micheals were among the six civilians listed by the Nigerian Air Force as passengers on the ill-fated flight.
The others were Mrs Ezeh Nneka, Godstmine Tarabina, Ukeme David and Gideon Omotola.
For the Tarabina family in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, the pain of losing a loved one has been compounded by the agonising wait for information.
As the family mourns Godstmine, uncertainty over the recovery operation has left them with more questions than answers.
His sister, Perfection, told DECENCY GLOBAL NEWS that the family had yet to receive an official briefing from the Air Force.
“The incident has completely devastated our family, and we are just mourning our loss. We have yet to receive any update from the Nigerian Air Force or the government on the progress of the search-and-rescue operation,” she said.
“My brother was not military personnel, though my mother is, and he was simply returning home when the incident happened,” Perfection added.
Another family mourning a future abruptly cut short is that of Ukeme David, a young graduate who recently completed his Higher National Diploma in Accounting at the Federal Polytechnic, Ukana, Akwa Ibom State.
David was returning to Lagos after completing his clearance in preparation for mobilisation for the National Youth Service Corps.
He had travelled to Benin to visit his father, who was stationed there, before boarding the aircraft for what should have been a short journey home.
Instead, the journey ended in tragedy, leaving his family to mourn a young man whose plans for the future were only just taking shape.
His uncle, Hamilton Meko, said David had hoped to undertake his national service while pursuing his ambition of becoming a footballer.
“His father arranged for him to board the aircraft to Lagos for what was supposed to be a short flight from Benin. Instead, it ended in a tragedy that has left his family devastated and a future full of promise cut short,” Meko said.
The loss has also struck close to home for David’s parents, both master warrant officers serving at the Nigerian Air Force Base in Ikeja, Lagos, where their son had spent most of his life.
Meko called on the Federal Government, the Air Force and relevant aviation safety authorities to ensure that the crash was thoroughly and independently investigated, with the findings made public.
He said the investigation should examine the aircraft’s airworthiness, maintenance records, operational procedures, weather conditions and any other factors that might have contributed to the crash.
“If the investigation identifies negligence, misconduct or safety violations, those responsible must face appropriate legal and professional consequences,” Meko added.
Newly commissioned officer among victims
While the civilian families grieve their losses, relatives of the military personnel aboard the aircraft are also struggling to come to terms with the sudden loss of loved ones whose lives and careers were cut short.
Among them was Flying Officer IM Adeshina, who was commissioned into the Nigerian Air Force on September 26, just nine days before the crash.
A tribute circulating online described Adeshina as the best graduating cadet of Branch Commission Course 3, highlighting the promise of a career that had only just begun.
“He was not just a name on a list; he was a son, a brother, a friend, a colleague, and a promising officer who had just started his journey of service to Nigeria,” a tribute on Facebook read.
Also among the victims was Squadron Leader Ahamefule Aham Man-Ugwueje, the aircraft’s co-pilot.
Photographs from his wedding circulated widely on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, drawing attention to the personal milestone he had celebrated shortly before the crash.
A tribute featuring photographs from his wedding on September 20, 2026, at the NAF Base read, “He got married two weeks ago, then tragedy struck; may God console his young wife.”
Across Igbokoda, local fishermen recovered personal belongings, clothes and a tail fin from the swamp. The discoveries added to the distress surrounding the crash, as families continued to await the recovery of their loved ones.
The aircraft crashed at about 9am on Monday while flying from Benin, Edo State, to Lagos.
The NAF later confirmed that all 25 people on board, comprising five crew members and 20 passengers, died in the crash.
An initial account from the Ministry of Aviation put the casualty figure at 32, but the Air Force subsequently released an official manifest listing 25 occupants.
Recovery operations have continued at the swampy crash site, with joint teams working to retrieve human remains and wreckage.
Ondo State Governor Aiyedatiwa confirmed on Wednesday that human remains, personal items and aircraft parts had been recovered, although divers were still working to locate the main fuselage.
On Thursday, the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke, visited the site and assured affected families that all physical evidence would be secured, documented and examined as part of a comprehensive investigation.
The Air Force said the recovery operation involved military personnel, security agencies, emergency responders, local authorities and community volunteers.
Aneke said his visit was also intended to assess the welfare of personnel involved in the operation, review the recovery efforts and ensure accountability.
Efforts ongoing to recover plane’s ‘black box’ – NAF
The Nigerian Air Force says efforts are ongoing to recover critical components of its crashed ATR-42 aircraft, including the flight recorders that could help investigators establish the circumstances surrounding the disaster.
The NAF Superintendent of Standards and Evaluation, Air Vice Marshal Ebimobo Ebiowe, disclosed this on Friday during a visit to the crash site in Igbokoda.
He said investigators were searching for key components of the wreckage that could provide vital evidence about the crash.
Among the items they hoped to recover were the Flight Data Recorder and the Cockpit Voice Recorder.
Ebiowe said, “We hope to be able to find critical components of the aircraft that will speak to the investigators because the aircraft wreckage actually speaks to investigators.
“One of them is what the ordinary man calls the black box. We call it the Flight Data Recorder and another component close to it, the Cockpit Voice Recorder.”
Questions over aircraft history
The investigation is expected to scrutinise the aircraft’s maintenance history and operational status before the flight.
A report by Military Africa published in January 2025 indicated that NAF 931 returned to Nigeria in late December 2024 after spending nearly four years at the Rheinland Air Service maintenance facility in Mönchengladbach, Germany.
The report noted that the aircraft was sent to Germany for maintenance in January 2022, although the reasons for the extended maintenance period were not disclosed.
Separately, SaharaReporters reported that the aircraft flew from Abuja to Lagos on Sunday, October 4, with a stopover in Benin to drop off passengers.
The publication, citing sources, reported that the aircraft developed an engine fault during the stopover and that technicians worked on it overnight before its scheduled departure for Lagos the following morning.
The NAF’s official statement described the aircraft as being on a routine flight from Benin to Lagos when the crash occurred.
The Air Force has constituted a joint investigative panel comprising military and civilian aviation safety experts, including representatives from the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau, to investigate the crash.
