By Christopher Oji and Oluwole Rotimi
The bodies of two passengers of the ill-fated aircraft marked 5NBGD belonging to Bristow Helicopters that plunged into the Lagos Lagoon at the Oworonsoki end of the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos on Wednesday were yesterday recovered from the bottom of the lagoon by a rescue team.
The trunk of the ill-fated truck and other parts have also been recovered.
Lagos State Police Commissioner, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, said the rescue operation had been concluded. He told Daily Sun that the preliminary investigations had been handed over to the AIB and other relevant authorities while full investigations are ongoing.
The two recovered bodies raised the total number of deaths to six, while the number of the survivors still recovering in hospitals in the Lagos metropolis remained six.
Daily Sun gathered that the recovery of the bodies was achieved after several hours of intensive search and combing of the lagoon by a joint emergency team.
The General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Mr Michael Akindele, who spoke to journalists, said the yet to be identified bodies were recovered around 10 am, in the debris of the crashed helicopter.
His words: “The two remaining bodies were recovered around 10 am, making a total number of six dead bodies, and they have been taken to Mainland Hospital, Yaba, by LASEMA.
“Six survivors are now stabilised at the General Hospital, Gbagada but the authorities of Bristow are seeking to move them to St Nicholas Hospital, Lagos Island, which is the staff hospital, for further medical treatment.
“The first stage of the recovery of bodies has been concluded while the second state of recovery exercise has been handed to Accident Investigation Bureau, (AIB) for the recovery of the crashed aircraft.
“It is for them to ascertain the cause(s) of the accident which will be reported to the appropriate authorities. And pathologies will also move in to examine the dead bodies to confirm the real cause(s) of the death.”
The LASEMA boss hailed the efforts of other stakeholders such as the National Emergency Management Agency,( NEMA), Lagos State Water Authority, (LASWA), Nigeria Police, Merchant Navy, Marine Police and especially, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni for his prompt response to the distress call and for mobilising the police for security.
According to him, the efforts of local divers who were involved in the recovery throughout the rescue operations are commendable.
Meanwhile the ill-fated chopper was recovered yesterday from the lagoon. The crane used in recovering the crashed helicopter belonged to Julius Berger. It was brought to the scene at 2.55pm, and they waited for about 40 minutes before commencing the search. When some people wondered why the rescue team was waiting, one of the engineers said the crew must wait till the water rose to a certain level, noting that the crane vessel would be grounded if the water was not at the appropriate level.
At about 3.35pm, the crane entered the water and lifted the body of the helicopter. The body was taken to the Oworonshoki Police Station.
Some divers of the helicopter remained at the scene to search for parts of the chopper that were still missing. The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) officials were supervising the divers. At about 4.40pm, some other parts were recovered by the divers and taken to the Oworonshoki Police Station.
An official of the AIB, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said parts of the items recovered from the lagoon were documents, emergency locator transmitter, and a non-volatile memory card. He said the voice recorder was yet to be recovered.
He said the search party would continue on Friday.
A police source said the helicopter was there in the meantime. He said the chopper would be moved to a safer place later yesterday.
The police commissioner expressed gratitude to local divers and other relevant authorities for their cooperation during the rescue operation. He said but for the vigilance of the local divers, nobody would have know that there was an even an accident.