ABUJA, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on Monday confirmed that all 32 people aboard a military aircraft that crashed near a local community in the country's southwestern Ondo State had died.
The military aircraft, carrying 25 passengers and seven crew members, crashed near the Naval Base in Igbokoda, a riverine community in Ondo State, said Festus Keyamo, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, in a statement.
In a separate statement, Tinubu said that this is a painful moment for the Armed Forces and for the entire nation, adding that the sacrifice of the Air Force personnel "will never be forgotten."
The Nigerian Air Force confirmed earlier that the aircraft was a twin-engine turboprop rather than a helicopter as previously believed. The ATR-42 aircraft was on a routine mission from Benin, a city in southern Nigeria, to Lagos when the incident occurred, the Air Force said.
Tinubu commended the Air Force for activating an immediate search and rescue operation following the accident.
