A Nigerian Air Force aircraft crashed in southwestern Nigeria on Monday, killing all 32 people aboard and prompting President Bola Tinubu to order an immediate investigation into the disaster.
The ATR-42 was carrying 25 passengers and seven crew members when it went down in the Igbokoda area of Ondo State on October 5, 2026, according to the president’s office and reports carried by Reuters. There were no survivors.
The aircraft had departed Benin City and was traveling to Lagos on what officials described as a routine mission. Air traffic controllers lost contact with it at 08:13 GMT, or 9:13 a.m. local time, Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo said.
The wreckage was subsequently located near a naval base in Igbokoda, a coastal town in Ondo State. Search-and-rescue personnel were sent to the area, where the loss of everyone aboard was confirmed. Officials did not establish a cause of the crash in the reports released on Monday.
Tinubu directed the Nigerian Air Force to begin an inquiry immediately, placing the circumstances surrounding the flight and the loss of contact under formal investigation. The order came as the government confirmed both the number of people aboard and the scale of the fatalities.
“This is a painful moment for our Armed Forces and for the entire nation. Our Air Force personnel put their lives on the line every day to secure Nigeria. Their sacrifice will never be forgotten,” Tinubu said in a statement published by the State House of Nigeria.
The crash left investigators with a short initial timeline. The military aircraft was operating between Benin City and Lagos when communication ended at 9:13 a.m. local time. Its wreckage was then found around Igbokoda, near the naval facility, as rescue teams mobilized to the site.
No official explanation had been given for why the aircraft crashed. The verified reports released on October 5 did not attribute the accident to any mechanical, operational or environmental factor. Tinubu’s directive called for the Air Force to determine what happened, rather than pointing to a preliminary cause.
The confirmed death toll includes everyone listed as being on the flight: 25 passengers and seven crew members. The official statements distinguished between the two groups but did not alter the overall total of 32 fatalities. The disaster involved a military-operated aircraft on a routine domestic journey between two major cities in southern Nigeria.
The location of the wreckage near Igbokoda shaped the immediate response, with personnel deployed to the coastal area near the naval base. Authorities focused first on locating the aircraft and confirming the fate of those aboard before turning to the investigation ordered by the president.
The Air Force inquiry is now responsible for establishing the sequence of events between the aircraft’s departure from Benin City, the moment controllers lost contact and its crash in Ondo State. Until that work produces findings, officials have not assigned responsibility or offered a conclusion about the cause.
Tinubu’s statement framed the disaster as a national loss as well as a blow to the armed forces. His office said the investigation should begin without delay, while the government mourned the passengers and crew killed on the flight.
