Joy and Sunday Micheal were travelling to Lagos to take a step towards the wedding they had hoped to celebrate with their families.
But what should have been a joyful journey towards a new chapter in their lives ended in tragedy when the Nigerian Air Force aircraft conveying them crashed in Ondo State.
Days after the October 5 disaster, their family is struggling to come to terms with the loss of the couple.
Yet, amid the grief, one painful wish is to have their remains recovered so they can be given a proper burial.
“We lost both my brother and his wife in the crash, and we are still mourning,” Sunday’s sister, Damilola, told Saturday PUNCH on Friday.
Damilola explained that the couple had been living together for a while without formalising their relationship.
She said the family’s immediate concern was no longer the wedding plans that had prompted the couple to embark on the ill-fated journey, but the recovery of their remains.
“The only thing we are after now is to reclaim the bodies of my brother and his wife,” she said.
Their mother, Damilola added, was struggling to bear the loss and desperately wanted their remains returned.
“My mother is in pain right now, and the only thing she wants is the remains of her son and his wife,” she added.
The couple was travelling to Lagos for introduction rites ahead of their wedding when the Nigerian Air Force ATR-42 aircraft, with registration number NAF 931, crashed into a swamp near the Nigerian Navy base in Igbokoda, headquarters of the Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State.
Beyond the pain of losing her brother and his partner, Damilola is struggling to understand how such a tragedy could befall a man she described as devoted to God.
“My brother served God; how can we escape life’s tragedies despite prayers?” she asked.
Still struggling to make sense of the disaster, she questioned how an aircraft could develop a fault, lamenting the dangers Nigerians face on their journeys.
The Micheals were among the six civilians listed by the Nigerian Air Force as passengers on the ill-fated flight.
The others were Mrs Ezeh Nneka, Godstmine Tarabina, Ukeme David and Gideon Omotola.
For the Tarabina family in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, the pain of losing a loved one has been compounded by the agonising wait for information.
As the family mourns Godstmine, uncertainty over the recovery operation has left them with more questions than answers.
His sister, Perfection, told Saturday PUNCH that the family had yet to receive an official briefing from the Air Force.
“The incident has completely devastated our family, and we are just mourning our loss. We have yet to receive any update from the Nigerian Air Force or the government on the progress of the search-and-rescue operation,” she said.
“My brother was not military personnel, though my mother is, and he was simply returning home when the incident happened,” Perfection added.
Another family mourning a future abruptly cut short is that of Ukeme David, a young graduate who recently completed his Higher National Diploma in Accounting at the Federal Polytechnic, Ukana, Akwa Ibom State.
David was returning to Lagos after completing his clearance in preparation for mobilisation for the National Youth Service Corps.
He had travelled to Benin to visit his father, who was stationed there, before boarding the aircraft for what should have been a short journey home.
Instead, the journey ended in tragedy, leaving his family to mourn a young man whose plans for the future were only just taking shape.
His uncle, Hamilton Meko, said David had hoped to undertake his national service while pursuing his ambition of becoming a footballer.
“His father arranged for him to board the aircraft to Lagos for what was supposed to be a short flight from Benin. Instead, it ended in a tragedy that has left his family devastated and a future full of promise cut short,” Meko said.
The loss has also struck close to home for David’s parents, both master warrant officers serving at the Nigerian Air Force Base in Ikeja, Lagos, where their son had spent most of his life.
Meko called on the Federal Government, the Air Force and relevant aviation safety authorities to ensure that the crash was thoroughly and independently investigated, with the findings made public.
He said the investigation should examine the aircraft’s airworthiness, maintenance
NAF crash: Wedding plans turn funeral tears as families await remains
