IGBOKODA, Nigeria — Following our initial breaking news report regarding an air mishap in the coastal community of Igbokoda, Starnews is issuing a formal correction to clarify that the affected aircraft was a fixed-wing military transport airplane, not a helicopter.
Our early reports, which were mirrored by several other national media outlets, were based on urgent eye-witness accounts from Igbokoda residents. Local onlookers, startled by a massive sound resembling thunder during a heavy downpour, initially identified the wreckage in the muddy, swampy terrain opposite the Naval Base as a helicopter.
Official statements released afterward by the NAF and the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, have since established the exact technical details of the aircraft.
The NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, confirmed that the aircraft was an ATR-42 twin-turboprop airplane (tail number NGR 931). The ATR-42 is a fixed-wing passenger and cargo aircraft, not a rotary-wing chopper
Minister Keyamo confirmed that the plane was carrying 32 people in total, including 25 passengers and 7 crew members. The military plane was conducting a routine mission from Benin City to Lagos when Air Traffic Controllers lost radar and radio contact at 9:13 a.m.
As a media organization committed to absolute truth and responsible journalism, Starnews takes responsibility for the early misidentification, which stemmed directly from the chaotic first moments of the crash and the immediate assumptions of local responders on the ground
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