NAF Ondo crash: Large aircraft wreckage emerges from swamp [VIDEO]

Days after the Nigerian Air Force, NAF, helicopter crash in Ondo State, large sections of the wreckage are being recovered from a riverine and swampy area where the aircraft went down.

Teams comprising Navy divers, Air Force personnel and emergency responders have been working with specialised equipment, including swamp buggies and side-scan sonar, to locate and recover the wreckage and remains.

A video shared from the recovery operation showed large sections of the aircraft that have been brought ashore, with officials, military personnel and local residents gathered around the recovered debris.

DAILY POST had earlier reported that on October 5, 2026, a Nigerian Air Force ATR-42 aircraft, with tail number NAF 931/NGR 931, crashed in a swampy, riverine area near the Naval Base in Igbokoda, Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State.

The aircraft was on a routine flight from Benin City, Edo State, to Lagos when air traffic controllers lost contact with it at about 9:13 a.m.

It crashed in difficult mangrove and swamp terrain opposite the naval base.

All 25 people on board, comprising five crew members and 20 passengers, mostly military personnel, died in the crash.

See video