The Accident Investigation Bureau on Thursday
released the official list of passengers and crew
members onboard the Bristow Helicopters’ chopper
that crashed into a lagoon in Lagos last Wednesday.

The official list, often called passengers’ manifest,
contained the names of the 10 passengers and two
flight crew members that were aboard the ill-fated
Sikosky S76 C+ helicopter that crashed in the
Oworonsoki area of Lagos on August 12.

The AIB had confirmed that the pilot, co-pilot and
four passengers died in the unfortunate incident
while six passengers survived.

The six survivors are currently receiving treatment at
the hospital, while the bodies of the six dead victims
had been deposited in the mortuary.

The names are; Ita Ekpeyong, Joshua Emekeme, Dolu
Ebiejuara, Onoriode Onojete, Chukwuma Erise and
Solomon Udeh.

Others are Chidi Ukwunta, Iniala Opaimi, Chris Abua,
Chukwudi Onah, Joseph Wyatt (Captain), and Peter
Kayode Bello (Co-Pilot).

According to the AIB, the survivors are Joshua
Emekeme, Dolu Ebiejuara, Onoriode Onojete,
Solomon Udeh, Iniala Opaimi and Chukwudi Onah,
while others died in the crash.

The AIB in a statement accompanying the
passengers’ manifest on Thursday said the Sikosky
S76 C+ helicopter crashed into the lagoon in
Oworonsoki area of Lagos shortly before landing at
Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.

The statement by the AIB spokesman, Mr. Tunji
Oketumbi, recalled that the helicopter marked 5N-
BGD and operated by Bristow Helicopters had
departed SEDCO oil platform offshore en-route Lagos
airport.

Meanwhile, the family of the late co-pilot on
Thursday held a funeral mass for the deceased in
Calabar without the corpse.

As early as 10am, family members and friends had
gathered at the Margaret Ekpo International Airport
in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, to receive
the corpse but they had to leave around 3.pm for St.

Patrick’s Catholic Church in the Ikot Ansa axis of the
metropolis, when it became obvious that the corpse
would not arrive from Lagos.

No reason was given for the delay in bringing the
corpse.

At the church funeral service, which commenced at
about 3.30pm, tributes poured in for the late Capt.
Bello
Delivering his homily at the funeral mass, Rev. Fr.
Patrick Corcoran, who took his Bible reading from
John 14:1-6, advised Christians not to allow their
hearts to be troubled, but to have faith in God.

Corcoran condoled with the family and urged them to
be thankful to God that their son died as a Christian.

After the church service, the parents of the co-pilot,
Mr. and Mrs. Peter Bello, refused to speak with one
of our correspondents.

But the father had during the service said, “We thank
God that in the last 26 years, we shared wonderful
times with you. We thank God for your life and all it
meant to us. We can only live with these memories.

“We are confident that God has better plans for us
because He is a good God. Lord, help us to know you
more. All we wish and pray for is that your death
brings others to know who God is. God is sovereign.

We love you, we miss you. Rest in the bosom of the
Lord.”

The company’s Lagos Base manager, Captain Ayo
Oni, in a tribute said, “He was never late for flights,
never had an excuse not to fly…it was his passion,”
he said.

A relative of the deceased, Mrs. Femi Bello, said that
death took the `young pilot’ too early when his
services were most needed at Bristol.

She prayed for the repose of the soul of the late pilot.

A family friend, Mrs. Theresa Okon, said that the late
Bello was a celebrated pilot who devoted adequate
time to his job.

The funeral mass attracted dignitaries including
politicians, businessmen, top civil servants, service
chiefs, and others.

The deceased was supposed to have been interred at
the Hawkins Cemetery in Calabar after the funeral
mass.