Lagos Helicopter Crash: Why we can’t release the names of victims now – AIB

The Accident Investigation Bureau, AIB, yesterday explained that the delay in making the names of the six victims of Wednesday Bristow Helicopter crash in Lagos public is because the airline involved has not contacted the families of the victims in line with international aviation practice before making the names public. This is coming as the black box and the cockpit voice recorders have not been recovered from the crash site.

Making this disclosure yesterday, the Commissioner, AIB, Dr Felix Abali told aviation reporters that until the airline finish contacting the victims families, the Bureau cannot get the permission from them to make the names of the victims public. Abali also said he is personally in touch with the airline and will make the names public immediately he gets the nod from the airline.

According to Abali: “We do have the copy of the manifest but there are protocol which we must go through before releasing it. The families must be briefed first. It is the responsibility of the airlines to release the manifest, they have to contact the families first before they release it to the public.”

Meanwhile, major parts of the aircraft have been recovered without the blackbox and Cockpit Voice Recorder. The construction company, Julius Berger is still excavating the site of crash to get these items which will aid quick investigation of the crash. The blackbox contains the last conversation between the pilot and the control tower at the airport.

Abali said “We have not recovered the black boxes yet that is the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and the Flight Date Recorder (FDR) so Julius Berger is going there  tomorrow  to continue the search.”