Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) to release reports of Four Air Crashes

There are strong indications that the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) may at any moment from now make full

public disclosure of at least four air crashes reports that had occurred in the country in recent time.

Information gathered from a source close to the Ministry of Aviation on Sunday revealed that the impending reports were those that occurred between 2006 and 2010.

The source, who did not want to be named because he was not authorised to speak on the issue, confided in BusinessDay correspondent that among the reports that would be released to the public in the next few days by the bureau, is that of the Odengene Air Shuttle (OAS) Helicopters crash in Warri on November 10, 2006.

Also, the Bristow Helicopter crash of August 3, 2007 would be released by the agency, while the accident involving Wings Aviation aircraft of March 15, 2008 would also be released to the public. The other report that is expected to be made public was the one involving Aero Contractors on August 21, 2010.

However, AIB had, at different times, released interim reports of some of the accidents, but the final impending reports would be the last that would be released on the accidents by the bureau.

The source told our correspondent that Osita Chidoka, the minister of aviation, wanted the reports published before the May 29, 2015 handover date.

The source explained that with the release, some of the report of the crashes, which had claimed hundreds of lives in recent time, would be in the public domain, while their causes and probable prevention would be worked upon by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and operating carriers in the sector.

Tunji Oketunbi, the spokesman for AIB, in a telephone interview with our correspondent, confirmed that the agency was planning to release some accidents reports, but declined to speak further.

He said: “It is true that we are planning to release some accident reports, but we are still finalising the arrangements.
This is a continuous exercise in AIB. As soon as reports are ready, we will release in the interest of the flying public.”

It would be recalled that the OAS Helicopters carrying four people crashed on November 10, 2006 on the outskirts of Warri, Delta State, killing one person while others were seriously injured.

Military officials on the scene had said that the owner of OAS was on board when the helicopter went down but the names of the passengers were not released. Officials said, however, that two of the passengers were foreigners.

On the Wings Aviation, the aircraft, a Beechcraft 1900D with registration marks 5N-JAH was declared missing for over six months before it was found on August 30, 2007 by hunters at a village in Obanlinku Local Government Area of Cross River State.