Four Killed in Bristow Helicopter Crash in Lagos

 

• Six passengers rescued, two missing, Ambode condoles victims

By Chinedu Eze and Chiemelie Ezeobi

A Bristow Sikorsky S-76 helicopter with registration number 5N-BDG-760540 yesterday crashed in the lagoon bordering Oworonsoki, a suburb in Lagos, with 12 persons on board.
The helicopter crash resulted in the death of four people whose bodies were recovered, the rescue of six others who were rushed to hospitals, and two others who had still not been found at press time.

According to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the helicopter crashed en route from an oil rig.
The General Manager, Public Affairs of NCAA, Fan Ndubuoke, confirmed that the helicopter, which was scheduled to arrive Lagos at 15.35 pm had 12 persons on board, including the American pilot and his co-pilot.
The rescued victims were rushed to the Gbagada General Hospital and Afolabi Medical Centre in Oworonsoki, while the search continued for the remaining two passengers.

Those admitted at Afolabi Medical Centre, a private hospital, were identified as Solomon Udeh and Joshua Emekeme, while the four at Gbagada General Hospital gave their identities as Iniala Opaimi, Dolu Ebiejuara, Chukwudi Onah and Onara Onoriode-Ojiete.
The helicopter, which crashed behind the traditional ruler’s palace, was said to have caused panic in Oworonsoki, as the residents scampered for safety.

An eyewitness said the helicopter was seen flying from a distance but when it got to Oworonsoki, it nosedived and sank into the lagoon.
Although it could not be confirmed where the helicopter took off from, DSB gathered from the site that the passengers onboard the aircraft were contractors and dredgers reportedly working for Indigo Dredging Company.
The men were said to have left from an oil rig between Lagos and Ondo States, having worked for the mandatory two weeks.
It was gathered that they were on their way to begin a two-week break, as is the norm with those who work on oil rigs, when the accident occurred.

Immediately the incident happened, rescue agencies thronged the site and rescue operations began in ernest.
Some of the rescue agencies were the Special Boats Services of the Nigerian Navy, the Marine Police, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and their state counterpart LASEMA.
Others were the state Fire Service, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC).

Speaking to DSB, the South-west Spokesperson for NEMA, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, confirmed the casualties.
He said when the primary and secondary responders got to the site, four corpses were recovered, while an all-night search will go on to rescue two other persons who remained unaccounted for.

He said: “As we speak, we don’t know the identities of the deceased persons. We are waiting for the manifest to identify them.
“Search and rescue operations continue until all the bodies are recovered. Meanwhile, we are yet to ascertain why the helicopter crashed.”
Also, officials of the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), who joined in the rescue operations, said an investigation had commenced with the bureau’s commissioner, Dr. Felix Abali, leading the team.

“Twelve souls were believed to be on board. There were casualties and survivors. It was a Bristow Helicopter on approach to landing in Lagos,” AIB said.
Reacting to the crash, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, commiserated with the victims over the unfortunate incident.

The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Dr. Oluranti Adebule, said that the government dispatched its emergency team to the site upon hearing of the accident, adding that top officials of the government were at the site on the directive of the governor to get first hand information on the accident and offer necessary support and assistance.

The deputy governor was also at the Gbagada General Hospital where four of the survivors were brought for medical attention, offered words of encouragement to the injured passengers and assured them that the best of medical care would be made available for them at the hospital.

Adebule while briefing journalists after the visit said that two other survivors were taken to a private hospital around the site of the crash for first aid attention, adding that they would be moved to the government hospital once they had been stabilised.
“We have four of the survivors at the Gbagada General Hospital while two others are at a private hospital, Afolabi Medical Centre, where they are being attended to with first aid pending when their condition improves and they will be transferred to the general hospital also,” the deputy governor said.

Yesterday’s crash was Bristow’s third in eight years. The last crash occurred on July 14, 2011 in Port Harcourt.
Investigations also revealed that a Bristow Bell-412 EP helicopter crashed on August 3, 2007, in Eket, Akwa Ibom State.
A report on that incident said the crash was a deliberate action by the pilot, Cleighton Brown, 47, an Australian by birth with British citizenship.

A report on the accident recently published by the AIB showed that Brown had wilfully crashed the helicopter due to psychological stress.
The report indicated that the deceased captain had boarded the helicopter at 7.30 am without a co-pilot, a procedure which negated aviation safety. He then started the engine rapidly, made a radio call at 7:32.16 for a “local flight”, and lifted rapidly at 7.35 am.
The accident occurred in a field at the ExxonMobil Qua Iboe terminal, QIT, heliport, Eket, with the pilot being the only soul on board.
The helicopter was barely two years old at the time it crashed, having been manufactured in September 2005. Investigations by AIB revealed that there was no flight schedule or request by any organisation.

The AIB, in its report stated that the pilot made two fast flight passes over the airfield and on the second flight pass, the aircraft descended steeply over the west end of the airfield at a high speed impacting the ground at 7.39 am.