■ Mother in grief as cousins extol his virtues
BY ENYERIBE EJIOGU, OGE OKAFOR, SIJIBOMI OYEDEPO-FATAYO AND AYO ALONGE
Grief, like a wet blanket on a cold dark day, has wrapped itself around the mother of Peter Kayode Bello, co-pilot of the Bristow helicopter that crashed last Wednesday.
Bello’s mother who resides in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, went into shock upon hearing about the untimely demise of her last child and only son, who just turned 26 in July.
One of his cousins, Nnenne who spoke with Sunday Sun at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, mortuary where the body was deposited for autopsy, revealed that the mother had been in denial since the heart-breaking news reached her.
“She just screamed and then stopped. When relations rushed over to ask her what happened, she said nothing and has been numb since then,” Nnenne said.
To make matters worse, neighbours were said to have thronged the place to pay condolence visits to his parents even before the representatives of Bristow helicopters came to deliver the sad news.
Fondly known as Junior to his siblings and cousins, Bello was very close to his mother, such that he listed her as his next-of-kin in his employment form.
As Sunday Sun gathered, Bello had two sisters, one already married and the other planning to wed in September.
A very affectionate person, Bello had recently accompanied his immediate elder sister for fittings of her new wedding gown.
Recalling the memory of seeing Bello’s body for the first time after it was recovered from the lagoon at the crash site, his cousin, Abiye said he had a broken arm and a deep gash on his forehead, most likely caused by the blades of the helicopter, which cut through his helmet.
Nnenne also explained that when she had recently asked Bello why he chose his mother as next-of-kin, he reportedly said: “With all that my mother has done for me, that is the least I could do.”
Asked what they would miss most about him, all three cousins present at the LASUTH morgue acknowledged that Junior was a lovable person, that nobody who ever came across him ever had any cause for regrets.
“He was well behaved and respectful and always made a lasting impression on you. Any woman that would have married Junior would have been lucky,” Abiye said.
Abiye further revealed that Bello only just got certified and had flown as a pilot for only a year having trained two years earlier with Bristow.
“I can beat my chest that Junior would be where we are work or no work,” Abiye said, adding that she was certain that if the roles were reversed and any of them was dead, Junior would have suspended all his official engagements to be at the morgue to mourn over the dead relation.
But did he have a girlfriend, Sunday Sun gently prodded Abiye: “Junior had no girl friend, he had no time for one.”
Call it prescience or whatever, the cousins said that a short video was shot earlier that fateful Wednesday, which showed Bello answering a question from a friend named Ijeoma on whether he was married. In the video, Bello showed off his right hand that had a ring on one of the fingers and then declared: “I have been taken.” However, his cousins maintained it was just a joke, a display of another interesting aspect of the late Bello’s engaging and lovable personality.
His cousins also expressed joy that in his last moments he was determined to save lives, which was why he and the pilot struggled to fly the stricken helicopter further away from residential buildings in the vicinity, hence it crashed in the lagoon.
Although their cousin was not rescued alive, they commended the efforts of the various agencies and individuals involved
Survivors in intensive care at St. Nicholas
The six survivors of the Bristow helicopter that crashed last Wednesday, who are on admission at St. Nicholas Hospital are said to be in the intensive care unit, an indication of the severity of their injuries.
A senior staffer of the upscale private hospital, who requested not to be named, disclosed the medical status of the patients.
Recall that the six survivors were relocated to St. Nicholas early Thursday morning from Gbagada General Hospital and Folabi Medical Centre, Oworonshoki, where they were first taken for emergency care after being rescued from the lagoon following the crash.
However, the Chief Matron of the hospital, Mrs. Olusola Fashola, assured anxious friends of the survivors, who thronged to the hospital to know about the health status of the survivors that they were “responding to treatment.”