How we recovered wrecks of crashed helicopter – NIMASA

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) said it collaborated with other government agencies to recover the wreck and black box of the crashed helicopter.

NIMASA says the helicopter crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Bonny Finima and promised that information gathered during the investigation will be shared with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).

It disclosed that the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) known as the black box were recovered at the weekend.

The agencies that worked with NIMASA include the Nigerian Navy, the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), NNPC, HydroDive and other local and international search and rescue partners.

Dayo Mobereola, director general of NIMASA, lauded all government agencies for the swift and well-coordinated inter-agency partnership on search and recovery operations.
He said NIMASA will share information on the incident with the IMO.

“In line with international maritime safety standards, NIMASA will report the findings about the helicopter crash into the Atlantic Ocean to the IMO via the Global Integrated Shipping Information System (GISIS). By sharing the findings of the offshore Port Harcourt helicopter crash with IMO, we at NIMASA demonstrate Nigeria’s commitment to transparency, accountability, and cooperation within the global maritime community,” he explains.

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Mobereola assured of NIMASA’s commitment to working closely with all relevant Agencies to determine the cause of the incident and take all necessary steps to prevent future occurrences.

On October 24th, 2024, the agency received distress signals at the Regional Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (RMRCC) and the C4i centre of the Deep Blue project and shared the same with the Nigerian Navy.

The Navy immediately deployed NIMASA’s specialised Search and rescue assets to the crash site located the downed aircraft and conducted recovery efforts under challenging conditions.

The helicopter crashed in the Atlantic Ocean near Bonny Finima, at a distance of 1.4km from the starboard side of the Floating Producing Storage Offloading FPSO, NUIM ANTAN Producing Ltd owned by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC Limited.

NIMASA working closely with the Nigerian Navy, The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau NSIB, the NNPC, HydroDive and other local and international search and rescue partners recovered the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) from the Sikorsky SK76 helicopter, registration 5N BQG.

With the recovery of the black box, over 80 percent of the helicopter wreck has been recovered. Other items recovered include the rotor, blades, engine, gearbox, windows, cockpit overhead panels, the Electronic Locator, Transmitter (ELT), and tail. All the recovered wrecks are on a dump barge.