The first Sunday in June is a day of celebration for the Celestial Church of Christ’s Juvenile Harvest. However, on June 3, 2012, joy turned to horror in Lagos.
At around 4pm, members of the Celestial Church of Christ, Ogo-Oluwa Parish in Iju-Ishaga, noticed a plane flying dangerously low.
“Everyone ran out of the church, people left their houses, left the vicinity,” recounted Prophetess Elizabeth Shobowale. “My children told me how they were trying to gather all the children in the church to a safe place.”
This was Dana Air Flight 0992, a routine flight from Abuja to Lagos. As the McDonnell Douglas MD-83 approached Lagos, both engines failed, and the plane plummeted into a residential area, killing all 153 people on board and six on the ground. This disaster became Nigeria’s deadliest airliner crash since 1973.
“I heard a loud bang, like an explosion,” recalled Mr. Chike Okwuosa, whose house was near the crash site. “By the time I came out, I saw the plane in flames and smoke everywhere.”
Okwuosa and other residents tried to rescue victims, but the heat was overwhelming. “There was a young girl trapped in a house,” he said. “I braved the smoke and fire with her brother. We were able to rescue her; she is the only survivor.”
Among the victims was Oluwadamilare Adeleke, a 400-level student at Bowen University, Iwo. A former roommate, who wished to remain anonymous, shared his memories with The Record.
“I can see his face clearly as I speak,” he said. “He was a very nice and jovial person. He was my bunkmate and one of the neatest people I have ever known.”
The crash
Some 17 minutes after taking off from Abuja, the crew of Flight 992 noticed a problem with the left engine. It wasn’t producing enough thrust despite the throttle setting. First Officer Rathore asked Captain Waxtan if they should call an engineer to analyse the issue, but Waxtan declined. He believed they could figure it out on their own.
Captain Waxtan then suggested that one of the ground crew might have tampered with the panel near the aircraft’s rear door. He mentioned a ground crew member who had been upset with them. Before the flight, both flight crews had refused the ground engineers’ request to use the rear door for boarding passengers, leading to this suspicion.
Despite the issue, the crew decided to continue to Lagos. They didn’t think the problem was serious enough to divert to another airport. Although they noticed differences in the engine performance, they didn’t consider it critical. They contacted Lagos ATC for descent clearance but didn’t mention the engine issue or consult the emergency checklist.
As they began their descent, the right engine also failed. Unable to regain thrust, the aircraft crashed into Iju-Ishaga, hitting buildings and exploding.
The aftermath was chaotic. Residents tried to fight the fire with buckets of water due to a lack of fire trucks. The crash killed all 153 passengers and crew, and at least six people on the ground.
A 2017 report by Nigeria’s AIB cited engine failure, omission of checklists, and poor decision-making as causes.
Memorial Site
On June 3, 2013, former Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, unveiled a memorial cenotaph for the victims of Flight 0992 at the crash site.
The memorial site is maintained by the Lagos State Government. Despite reports of neglect, during an inspection by our correspondent found a gardener employed by the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency clearing the weeds and tending to the vicinity.
The gardener who wanted to remain anonymous informed us that he is paid to clear the weeds once every month.
“People rarely come here to the memorial site, but usually visit during the anniversary of the day it happened,” he said to The Record.
12 years later…
On April 23, 2024, another Dana Air aircraft with the registration number 5N BKI, which was flying from Abuja to Lagos skidded off the runway at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
While no one was injured, the incident reignited concerns about Dana Air’s safety. 24 hours after the runway excursion, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) suspended Dana Air’s operator certificate pending a safety and economic audit.
Festus Keyamo, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, expressed concern about the recent incident in a letter to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority.
During an appearance on Channel’s TV breakfast show on April 27, he raised serious questions about the safety and financial viability of Dana activities.
“The point is that the public is at risk and if anything happens, anything tragic happens you know it is the minister they will call,” Keyamo said.
The tragic events of June 3, 2012, when Dana Air Flight 0992 crashed in Lagos, are forever etched in the memories of those who lost loved ones and witnessed the devastation.
Despite the passage of 12 years, the pain still lingers, compounded by the recent incident involving another Dana Air aircraft on April 23, 2024.
The suspension of Dana Air’s operator certificate by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority underscores the urgency of addressing safety concerns within the aviation industry.
As we reflect on the lives lost in the Dana Air tragedy today, there is a collective call to prioritise and enhance air travel safety measures, aiming to prevent the recurrence of such tragic events.
