The monarch of Igbokoda in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State, Oba Afolabi Odidiomo, has urged the Federal and state governments to expedite efforts to recover the remains of victims of a Nigerian Air Force aircraft crash in the community.
PUNCH Online reported that a NAF ATR-42 aircraft crashed in the community last Monday, with at least 25 people on board. Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, had said there were no confirmed survivors, while recovery operations were ongoing.
Speaking to our correspondent by telephone, Odidiomo said residents had been battling an offensive odour since the crash, attributing it to decomposing human remains yet to be recovered from the river.
He also raised concerns about aviation fuel spillage, which he said had polluted the surrounding environment.
He said, “The odour is extremely offensive. So many parts of the human body are floating around in the river. Some of the bodies have not been recovered. They have decomposed, and it is affecting everything.”
The monarch said the pollution had affected residents’ access to clean water, leaving them struggling to obtain enough for domestic needs, including cooking.
He added that traces of spilled aviation fuel could be seen on the river some distance from the crash site.
Odidiomo urged the governments to accelerate the recovery of the remaining human remains and aircraft debris, as well as commence an urgent environmental clean-up.
In a response, the Ondo State Commissioner for Environment, Tob Loko, said the state government was collaborating with the Federal Government to address the situation.
He said the state had sent a delegation to the community shortly after the crash to assess its environmental impact and support recovery efforts.
Loko said, “Shortly after the plane crash occurred, the state government sent a delegation to the place for an on-the-spot assessment of the impact of the crash on the environment. Many people were there to assist in the recovery efforts. I think that is still ongoing.
“What we are trying to do is support the Federal Government because it is not entirely an effort to be undertaken by the state government. The state government is collaborating with the Federal Government to ensure that we carry out as much recovery as possible.”
The commissioner said no bodies had been recovered despite the days of search operations, adding that the government was assessing the extent of the pollution and its potential public health effects.
He said, “Shortly afterwards, concerns about pollution were raised. What we are trying to do is make a heuristic assessment of the level of public health impact and determine how we can embark on decontamination efforts because the surrounding area is surely contaminated.
“So, there is a case of pollution, but we are not resting on our oars. As I have said, we are carefully undertaking holistic assessments of the environmental impact and the public health impact of what has happened there to ensure that we address it as quickly as possible.”