Mohammed Shosanya
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo on Wednesday announced the recovery of the wreakage and flight recorder of the crashed S76C helicopter with registration marks 5N-BQG operated by Eastwind Aviation which occurred on October 24, 2024 in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State.
The helicopter with eight persons on board, six passengers and two crew member had departed Por-Harcourt Airport heading to FPSO Nium Antan when it crashed.
Keyamo also disclosed that the two crew members and one passenger are still missing while the government of Cameron has been contacted to join in the continued search since one body was actually recovered from Cameronian water.
He said:”On day 1 of the accident, three (3) bodies of some debris suspected to be from the crashed helicopter were spotted floating and were picked up. So far, five (5) bodies identified to be of the deceased passengers were recovered, while one (1) passenger and two (2) crew members are yet to be found.
“At midnight on 31 October 2024, the wreckage of the helicopter was finally located at a depth of 42m,Latitude 04° 13.634’N and Longitude 008 19.442’E. Although scattered in pieces, major parts and components of the helicopter, except for the flight recorder (Black Box), were recovered, including the fuselage, two (2) engines, main gearbox, landing gears, main and tail rotor, tail rotor shaft, etc.
“The search and recovery efforts continued until the flight recorder was found on Friday, 8 November 2024. The search and recovery operations took over 14 days.
“On Saturday, 9 November, the wreckage departed the collection site on a ferry. It arrived at Onne Port on the evening of Sunday, 10 November. After completing the formalities at the port, the wreckage was loaded on the low bed truck on Monday, 11 November and is on its way to Abuja.
“Our specialists picked the flight recorder and brought it Abuja last night (Tuesday 12 November 2024). The process intricate process of readout of the recordings will begin immediately.
“Our objective is to conduct a thorough investigation using available techniques to find a safety issue and recommend a safety change to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again.
“We will examine the roles of man, machine, and the environment that might have directly or indirectly contributed to this accident. In the process, we will review the certified maintenance documents of the crashed helicopter and the crew’s training and medical records.
“We have received full cooperation from
the operator, NCAA, NAMA, and NiMet. The helicopter engines and related components will be thoroughly examined at our wreckage hangar in
Abuja after being subjected to a teardown exercise.”
He said the United States of America, as the State of Design and Manufacture of the helicopter, has appointed an NTSB investigator as the Accredited Representative, assisted by a Technical Adviser nominated by Sikorsky Aircraff while, France, as the State of Design and Manufacture of the engines, has appointed an Accredited Representative, assisted by a Technical Adviser from SAFRAN, the engine manufacturer to join in the investigation and possible recommendations.
He added:”All things being equal, we will publish the Preliminary Report on the NSIB website within 30 days.Usually, it takes up to a year or more to develop the Final Report and possible safety recommendations”.
He said NSIB whose mandate it is to conduct independent investigations of transportation occurrences with the sole objective of accident and serious incident prevention in all modes of transportation by making safety improvement recommendations is instituting a family support programme to assist the bereaved families.
He added:”Additionally, the NSIB’s family assistance department, in collaboration with the NTSB and the NTSB, will be working with the bereaved family members to bring them some comfort at this difficult time”.