Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has declared three days of national mourning following the deaths of 32 people in a Nigerian military aircraft crash in Ondo State.
The aircraft, identified as an ATR-42, was travelling from Benin City to Lagos on a routine assignment when it went down on Monday morning in a swamp near a naval facility.
Officials said the plane was submerged when rescuers reached the scene. Search operations continued.
A local resident told the BBC that clothing and footwear had been found in the area, where smoke was also visible.
The victims included 25 passengers and seven crew members.
The Air Force has published their names; most were military personnel.
Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo said authorities first received reports that aircraft NGR 931 had disappeared at 09:13.
Attempts to contact it by radio failed before officials confirmed the crash near Igbokoda.
President Tinubu ordered the Air Force to investigate the cause and directed that flags be lowered to half-mast nationwide.
He described the loss as a painful moment for the armed forces and the country, praising military personnel for their service.
The crash is Nigeria’s deadliest involving a military aircraft since 1992.
In 2021, army chief Lt-Gen Ibrahim Attahiru and 10 other officers died when a plane came down in Kaduna State during bad weather.
That February, seven people were killed when a military aircraft crashed short of a runway in Abuja.
By: Magdalene Agyeiwaa Sarpong