A sizable number of the late
former governor of Ondo State’s family may have perished in a plane crash on Thursday,
October 03, 2013.
By Chukwudi OHIRI
A report just coming in from
Reuters and confirmed by some local Television stations in Nigeria has it that an
Associated Airlines plane, which was flying from Nigeria's commercial capital
to Akure, a southwestern town about 140 miles away, with seven crew on board and
20 passengers crash landed shortly after take-off at the local wing of the
Muritala Muhammed Airport.
Joe Obi, Aviation Ministry’s
spokesman confirmed that the small chartered
passenger plane had on board, 27 people including the body of former
governor of Ondo state, Olusegun Agagu being carried to his funeral in the
company of some members of his immediate family.
He however remarked that there were survivors being rushed to the Hospital as
at press time. "Some persons are being rushed to hospital. A few
dead bodies have been recovered, but there are survivors," he said.
The cause
of the crash could not be immediately ascertained, but Obi reportedly said
"the plane couldn't lift properly so it just came down," apparently
as a result of an engine failure. Supo Atobatele, spokesman for the Nigerian
Airspace Management Agency reportedly said: “It was an Associated Airline
plane. It was going to Akure (southwest). The engine failed on takeoff and it
crash-landed and burst into flames. Twenty people were on board”. Feared dead
in the ill-fated flight are Agagu’s wife, son ,
Chief Olu Falae’s 1st son—Deji and others yet to be identified.
