Family members of one the victims of the ill-fated Sikorsky SK76 Helicopter operated by East Wind Aviation, which crashed last Thursday, are demanding the corpse of their breadwinner for proper burial.
Mr Ledum Light, son of Mr Boris Ledum Ndorbu, who works with Arion Energy, a subsidiary of the NNPC, speaking in a chat with our correspondent in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Sunday, said the news of the passing of his father was shocking and devastating.
The development came four days after the helicopter conveying some workers of the NNPC crashed.
The helicopter crashed on Thursday, with a report that three dead bodies had been recovered.
On Sunday, however, the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau said two bodies had been recovered from the ocean.
A branch chairman of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers also said the incident occurred in the Gulf of Guinea, and not Bonny in Rivers State as widely reported.
The union disclosed that one headless body believed to be one of the victims of the crash was found on Sunday.
Light, while fighting back tears in an interview with The PUNCH, said, “My father was one of the crew members who were on their way to work. I got the information from his employer as they called to disclose the information to us that Thursday afternoon, about 3 pm.
“It was very shocking and devastating because I spoke with my dad that morning and he was in good health. He was very sound and he was hale and hearty and there was no sign of such coming at all.”
He said after the earlier call from the company informing them of the incident, no other information had been received, saying the family had been kept in the dark.
“As at this moment, from the information we have gotten, they are yet to recover their bodies. So far, we’ve been made to understand that only three bodies have been recovered and that of my dad wasn’t among the three that have been recovered.”
While noting that his father is a member of NUPENG, he said the family was communicating with NUPENG and a sister union, saying, “From their information so far, they said I think it was divers that have been deployed so far.
“To the best of our knowledge, no serious effort has been put in place because I think it’s just divers that were deployed and we’re sure that there are other infrastructures that have been put in place, deployed onboard the sea to aid in the search process alongside the divers that were deployed.”
He further said though his father left home on Monday, it was only on Thursday that he travelled.
“He has been shuttling from the hotel to the naval base to secure his flight to work, so he didn’t leave the house.
“He has been shuttling from the hotel to the naval base until I think it was that Thursday they were able to have gotten them on board the helicopter. So from the hotel, they left for the naval base.
“We communicated that morning because I sent something home for him and he called me to confirm that the thing had been delivered home for him.
“We communicated around 7, 6:30, and 8 am that Thursday. We had a brief communication because I was preparing to go outside so we just communicated very briefly and he told me that they were at the muster point heading to the naval base to go off to work.
“At this point, basically and primarily, all that we’re after is for the bodies to be recovered, because that’s the most important thing.
He added, “It’s so dear to us and we only want to see him, we only want to have him back. So, we’re calling on all relevant authorities to please do the best within their reach, within their confines to ensure that anything that has to be done is done to recover back the body because that’s what’s most precious to us at this point, that’s what will console us at this point.”
The wife, Mrs Mbet Ledum, described the incident as shocking, saying all the family wanted was to see their breadwinners dead or alive.
The distraught woman stated, “It was devastating when we received the news and the information was shocking. We were weak.”
Asked if she had been contacted after the initial information to break the news, she answered in the negative.
“We want everybody to help us recover his body, whether dead or alive. He told us he was going to work, so we wanted to see him back home.
“The way we are now, we don’t know what is happening. We just want to see him. That is our priority for now. We want to see him,” she said while fighting back tears.
Speaking on the incident, NUPENG Chairman of FPSO Nium Antan Oil Mining Lease (OML-123) operated by the NNPC, Harold Gift Ntem, said Nium Antan is an oil field formerly operated by Addax Petroleum and taken over by the NNPC over non-compliance.
He said only three bodies were found on Thursday, saying thereafter one headless body was found in the field, making it four bodies so far.
Nte further said the crew were the only ones conducting a search of the victims in the field and accused the management of the company of negligence and failure to provide a safe flight for its workers.
Nte said, “On the 24th of this month, there’s a flight accident that has taken the souls of our members, about six of them, including the pilot and the co-pilot making it eight souls.
“We need to debunk the news going round social media and some media houses that additional bodies were found after the only bodies found the same day, which is only three.
“Today (Sunday) we can recover another body which happens to be headless at about 19:14 minutes. This is an update to inform the public. And because the body is headless it is difficult for us to identify the person. So we are still in the recovery process.
“I want to also put it on notice that the incident as was falsely reported did not happen in Bonny River. It happened five minutes of Chopper Flight time to helideg of the field in the Gulf of Guinea, OML-123 Antan FPSO Nium Adom, that is where the incident happened. It is an international water sharing the boundary between Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria and Cameroon.
“Our people being the crew are the ones responsible in the field searching for the bodies. So, we want the public to understand the true situation of things and the negligence on the part of the management in the field not providing sound, safe flight for their workers.”
While lamenting the loss, he said “Our eyes are filled with tears, traumas of the memories of our loved ones, family members, fathers, resource persons, engineers and doctors, electricians, people who left their house to look for bread for their families could not return back home.
“We want the world to fight for the souls of the dead so that there should not be a repeat of the kind of management and situation that is taking lives in an oil installation.”
He said as a union, they are trying to meet with the company’s management to iron out some issues concerning the workers.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, also confirmed that one more body was recovered from the Atlantic Ocean.
The minister, on his X account, said from the information reaching him from the NSIB, the bureau had recovered one more lifeless body of one of the helicopter crash victims.
Minutes after, the NSIB, in a statement, noted that Field operations identified an “additional body by confirming the T-shirt worn matched the description provided. Although it took time, photographic evidence confirmed the identity as the fourth victim.”
On the day of the crash, three bodies were recovered but the latest recovery put the total number of bodies at four.
According to the NSIB, Eastwind Aviation had been contacted to arrange an air ambulance to transport the body on Monday morning.
The statement further reads, “Antan Security informed the Port Harcourt Marine Police to prepare for receiving the body from the air ambulance.”
The NSIB added that the bureau was actively collaborating with a joint search, rescue, and recovery team, as well as various supporting agencies.
“These combined efforts are essential for ensuring a thorough and efficient recovery process and for gathering critical evidence to aid the investigation,” it noted.
The Director General of the NSIB, Capt Alex Badeh, expressed appreciation for the joint support, saying, “We are grateful for the coordinated support of national and international partners working alongside us in this challenging environment.
“Our thoughts remain with the families of those affected, and we are dedicated to gathering the essential information to provide clarity and closure.”