How we managed to survive the plane crash -Feyi Agagu

An in depth family friend of Feyi, son of late Chief Agagu, who's among the survivors of the ill fated Associated Airlines flight, told Vanguard that he (Feyi) was reluctant to enter the plane after seeing how old it looked. (The exact plane pictured right). He and others survived basically by sitting at the rear of the plane. Below is what an insider said;

 “The young man said that once they got to the tarmac before boarding and once he sighted the plane, what struck him was the seemingly very old look of the plane. Feyi said he didn’t like the looks of the plane. He also said but for the importance and significance of the trip, his inner sense didn’t feel comfortable boarding the plane.

"In fact, Feyi said he told another survivor, Femi Akinsanya, that the plane looked too old and he didn’t feel like boarding. But Feyi said he was told not to get himself worked up needlessly since this was not going to be his first time aboard a plane neither would this be the first old-looking plane that he would board. That was how he said he boarded the plane”.

“Feyi recounted how he and Femi Akinsanya boarded the plane and moved straight to the back end to take up seats. Why Feyi chose the back seat”, the source said, “was more a function of his state of mind about the state of the plane rather than a preference for taking a back seat.

“When they sat down, Feyi told me that he and Femi simply prayed that they should just take off and land safely, oblivious of what lay ahead of them. “Feyi said once they took off, everything happened so fast. What he also told me was that both he and Femi noticed what looked like a crack not far from where they sat at the rear end of the plane

“He said everything happened so fast that by the time the plane crashed on the ground, it was that crack that had been noticed earlier that transformed into a gapping exit point upon impact on the ground.

“Feyi said the exit point created was where he and Femi escaped through”.

Another source further revealed that most of the survivors of the crash appeared to be those seated at the rear end of the plane.

Though 23years old, the plane, according to Balami David, the President of the National Association of Pilots and Engineers, during a television interview, reportedly operated some days before the ill-fated flight.

Lagos doctors battle to save Feyi Agagu's life, as he is moved to a new ward

Doctors at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, are battling to save the life of Feyi Agagu, the son of the late governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Agagu, who was involved in a plane crash on Thursday morning as he and others were taking his father’s corpse for burial.

P.M.NEWS undercover reporter observed as Feyi was earlier today being moved from the surgical emergency ward in LASUTH to the more comfortable Bola Ahmed Tinubu ward where he would have a better chance of survival.


Doctors who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity all confirmed that Agagu’s son would receive better medical attention at the new ward which boasts of more medical personnel and state-of-the-art equipment.

“There are more staff there, more modern equipment and they will be able to monitor him every minute. He has a better chance of survival there,” a doctor said pleading not to be quoted because she is not authorised to speak with reporters.

Our undercover reporter observed that Feyi was not unconscious and could recognise family members and friends who were in the hospital today.

But he was weak, did not speak and seemed to be under pains. He tried painfully to make a sign to his relatives but his hand came down almost immediately.

Feyi was among the lucky seven survivors who are receiving treatment in three hospitals in Lagos.
Five of those who are receiving treatment are in LASUTH while one is at the Airforce medical centre and the other is in Gbagada General Hospital, said Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, who visited the survivors on Friday morning.

Idris said he was satisfied with the level of attention the patients were receiving.

He said one of the survivors had a surgery on Thursday night and three were doing well and one is in critical condition.

He did not say whether it was Agagu’s son or another survivor he was referring to.
Our correspondent observed that family members, friends and sympathisers stormed the hospital but were not allowed to see the survivors.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, said at a press conference in Lagos, southwestern Nigeria, that the crashed plane had a subsisting Air Operators Certificate, AOC, and had a current Certificate of Airworthiness, known as (C of A) which was supposed to expire on 22 October, 2013.

Adamu Ahmed Abdullahi, the Director of Consumer of Protection at NCAA, who represented the Director General of the agency, Fola Akinkuotu, said Associated Aviation Limited last operated their aircraft on 30 August before it crashed yesterday, killing 13 people.

He said the airline only conducts chartered operations.

Abdullahi said the Brazilian made Embraer 120 aircraft marked 5N-BJY could carry up to 30 passengers and was registered in Nigeria on 22 May 2007.

He declined to take questions from journalists, claiming that NCAA is also under investigation by the Accident Investigation Bureau, AIB.

At the time of this report, AIB was yet to speak with journalists about the investigation it is conducting.