3rd June, 2013
Residents of Lagos State, southwest Nigeria, as well as family members of victims of the ill-fated Dana aircraft that crashed in Iju area of the state gathered Monday morning at the crash site where the State Government built a cenotaph in honour of the victims.
The gathering was in commemoration of the incident that happened on Sunday, 3 June, 2012 in which 153 people lost their lives. Governor Babatunde Fashola who wore a mournful look throughout the event, recalled that on that fateful Sunday morning, the men, women and children in the ill-fated Dana Air Flight 992 had journeyed more than 700km from Abuja to Lagos and were minutes away from arrival when the incident happened.
The Governor recalled further that a family of a mother, a father and four children were sitting innocently in their building close to the site of the crash when it occurred.
He said as a result of power failure the father of the children had sent the eldest child to get the local electrician, but that by the time she and her sister came back from the errand, their parents had become casualties as they had been hit by the crashed aircraft.
“I know that it will take a while for the tragic memories of your great losses to heal, but you must carry on, not just because you have to carry on but because your loved ones would want and expect you to,” Governor Fashola said.
Relatives of the victims who spoke with P.M.NEWS, said it has not been easy coping with the reality that they had lost their loved ones.
Dr. Ben Ayene, one of the relatives who lost at least six members of his family including his brother, his brother’s wife and their children, said the family had continued to cope but prayed that such incident should not happen again.
—Eromosele Ebhomele & Dedeigbo Ayodeji