The Ondo State Commissioner of Police, Mr Felix Ohagwu, has disclosed that efforts to remove the wreckage of the crashed military aircraft in the state are ongoing.

It was reported that no fewer than 32 people were on board the aircraft, reportedly belonging to the Nigerian Air Force, which crashed at Igbokoda in the Ilaje Local Government Area of the state on Monday.

The state governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, had said on Channels TV that there was no survivor yet in the incident.

The police commissioner, who spoke during his assessment visit to the community on Tuesday, said the rescue operation was still ongoing, adding that it was difficult to remove the wreckage and the victims due to the swampy terrain of the area where the incident occurred.

He said, “What happened yesterday was quite unfortunate. It’s a very difficult terrain, the creeks, mangroves, assessing the site of the crash was not easy. I had to use a smaller boat, a canoe, to assess it.

“My men are sitting on the ground, trying to recover the wreckage. Both human parts and plane parts have not been recovered since yesterday. They are still on the ground; we are on top of it. I thank my men who have been on the ground since yesterday, giving us support. For now, the recovery of the wreckage is still in progress. I will not say much until after the conclusion of the investigation by the relevant agencies.”

The police boss reiterated that there were no survivors yet in the crash, stating that his men discovered that most of the bodies and parts of the aircraft were in pieces.

He said, “There are no survivors yet. We are yet to see any survivors. No survivors yet. From what we have seen since yesterday to now, on-the-spot assessment, there are no survivors. What we see is just body parts and the cloth littered everywhere. Passengers’ clothes littered everywhere. Body parts floating in the water, and so on and so forth.”

Ohagwu added that more technical support was needed to evacuate the remaining parts of the ill-fated aircraft, saying bigger machines were needed to carry out the operation.

He noted, “We are still expecting a bigger machine to be able to pull the wreckage from the water. We have to pull it. So we are still expecting a response from NEMA and other agencies, so that they come with a bigger instrument to pull the wreckage out of the water.”