IGBOKODA, Nigeria — 5 October 2026: Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo says wreckage has been located near the naval base in Igbokoda, Ondo State, after a military aircraft crashed on Monday.
His preliminary information puts 25 passengers and seven crew members aboard. Search-and-rescue operations are underway, and authorities have not confirmed how many people survived or died.
The Nigerian Air Force has identified the aircraft as an ATR-42 on a routine mission from Benin to Lagos. That confirmation corrects early reports describing a helicopter.
What happened in the Ondo military plane crash? Nigeria’s Air Force confirms an ATR-42 crashed in Igbokoda on 5 October 2026 during a Benin-to-Lagos mission. Minister Festus Keyamo says preliminary information indicates 32 occupants. Wreckage has been located, rescuers are searching, and casualties and the cause remain unconfirmed.
Wreckage found after radio contact was lost
In his statement reproduced by Premium Times, Keyamo said air traffic controllers informed him that the aircraft, identified by tail number NGR 931, had disappeared while travelling towards Lagos. Efforts to contact it by radio were unsuccessful.
He said subsequent information established that it had crashed close to the naval base in Igbokoda. The wreckage was located, allowing the response to focus on search and rescue at the accident site.
AeroTime’s report of the minister’s account identifies the disappearance time as 09:13 local time. In Nigeria’s West Africa Time, that corresponds to 11:13 East Africa Time. It is the reported time the aircraft went missing, rather than a separately established exact impact time.
The information released so far does not set out a complete sequence between the loss of contact and the discovery of the wreckage. The flight’s communications record and the rescue findings will be important to establishing that sequence.
Air Force confirms the plane and rescue operation
ACCIDENT NEWS
Ondo Military Plane Crash: Keyamo Reports 32 Aboard; Rescue Continues
Oct 5, 2026
Oct 5, 2026
5 min read
Published
Updated:
IGBOKODA, Nigeria — 5 October 2026: Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo says wreckage has been located near the naval base in Igbokoda, Ondo State, after a military aircraft crashed on Monday.
His preliminary information puts 25 passengers and seven crew members aboard. Search-and-rescue operations are underway, and authorities have not confirmed how many people survived or died.
The Nigerian Air Force has identified the aircraft as an ATR-42 on a routine mission from Benin to Lagos. That confirmation corrects early reports describing a helicopter.
What happened in the Ondo military plane crash? Nigeria’s Air Force confirms an ATR-42 crashed in Igbokoda on 5 October 2026 during a Benin-to-Lagos mission. Minister Festus Keyamo says preliminary information indicates 32 occupants. Wreckage has been located, rescuers are searching, and casualties and the cause remain unconfirmed.
Wreckage found after radio contact was lost
In his statement reproduced by Premium Times, Keyamo said air traffic controllers informed him that the aircraft, identified by tail number NGR 931, had disappeared while travelling towards Lagos. Efforts to contact it by radio were unsuccessful.
He said subsequent information established that it had crashed close to the naval base in Igbokoda. The wreckage was located, allowing the response to focus on search and rescue at the accident site.
AeroTime’s report of the minister’s account identifies the disappearance time as 09:13 local time. In Nigeria’s West Africa Time, that corresponds to 11:13 East Africa Time. It is the reported time the aircraft went missing, rather than a separately established exact impact time.
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The information released so far does not set out a complete sequence between the loss of contact and the discovery of the wreckage. The flight’s communications record and the rescue findings will be important to establishing that sequence.
Air Force confirms the plane and rescue operation
Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, the Air Force’s director of public relations and information, confirmed the accident in a statement reported by TheCable. He said the service activated an immediate search-and-rescue operation and was working with relevant authorities and emergency response agencies.
Ejodame described the journey as a routine mission from Benin, in Edo State, to Lagos. The statement did not give a casualty total or explain what caused the accident.
The confirmation is significant because the first accounts from the community used a different aircraft description. SaharaReporters’ updated report identifies the aircraft as an ATR-42 and corrects its earlier helicopter account. The official identification is therefore the description that applies to this incident.
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The Air Force’s announcement establishes that one of its aircraft was involved. It does not establish the passengers’ identities, their duties or the specific purpose of Monday’s flight beyond the description of a routine mission.
Thirty-two occupants is a preliminary figure
Keyamo’s breakdown of 25 passengers and seven crew members gives a preliminary total of 32 people aboard. That figure describes occupancy; it does not establish deaths, injuries, survivors or the number of people still missing.
The minister said he had spoken to Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke and offered cooperation and assistance with the rescue effort. He also stated that military-aircraft control and regulation fall outside the authority of the aviation ministry and civil aviation regulator.
The Ondo State Police Command separately confirmed the crash. Spokesperson Abayomi Jimoh said the circumstances were still emerging, according to Okay News’ updated account. Neither the Air Force statement nor the minister’s initial update supplied a confirmed casualty figure.
For families awaiting information, the immediate unanswered question is the condition of those aboard. Confirmation of the accident and the number potentially involved cannot substitute for an official account of who has been found and what medical assistance they require.
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Cause remains open as rescuers search
No cause has been established in the statements released so far. The loss of radio contact does not, on its own, show why the aircraft came down. There is no confirmed finding attributing the accident to weather, a mechanical fault or an action by the crew.
The military operates ATR-42 aircraft in roles beyond passenger transport. In an earlier official account of its Benin-based air maritime group, the Air Force described ATR-42 combat-support operations. That historical account concerns a separately identified aircraft, NAF 930, and does not establish the role or technical condition of NGR 931 on Monday.
Across African aviation, the outcome of a rescue and the explanation for an accident are separate questions. XTRAfrica’s coverage of the Kajiado training-plane crash and the Mogadishu runway overrun similarly distinguished reported outcomes from unresolved causes. Those incidents have no established connection to the Ondo crash.
The next substantive update will be an authoritative account of the occupants’ condition, followed by information establishing the circumstances of the accident. The Air Force has said further details will be communicated in due course.
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