By Jimitota Onoyume

PORT HARCOURT—Some parents and relatives of the 60 students of Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja, who died in a Sosoliso plane crash at the Port Harcourt International Airport,Omagwa, Rivers  State, 10 years ago had a memorial procession for the children at the airport.

They later unveiled a memorial statue in honour of the 60 angels, as the students who perished in the aircraft have come to be known, at the Jesuit Memorial college, Aluu, in Ikwere Local Government Area.

Dr and Mrs Ilabo, who lost the two children they had at the time of the crash, were not at the memorial event.

When Vanguard visited what used to be their residence in D/Line, Port Harcourt, it  was discovered that they had moved out and the structure that was there demolished.

Some of the parents who were decked in white T-shirt recalled fond  memories of their beloved  children.

They also expressed disappointment with the state of the aviation industry in the country. According to one of them who gave his name as Mr Lolo, nothing seemed to have changed in the aviation industry.

It will be recalled that Sosoliso Airlines flight 1145 from Abuja to Port Harcourt on December 10, 2015, burst into flames at the Port Harcourt International Airport a few minutes after landing.

The plane, MCDonnell Douglas DC-9-32, had about 170 passengers on board.

A popular tele-evangelist, Pastor Bimbo Odukoya, was among those who died in the crash.

Parents  and families of the those who perished in the crash had sustained a campaign to improve the aviation industry.

It is not clear if any substantial changes have occurred in the nation’s airports.

It is believed that poor emergency response contributed largely to the death of those in the aircraft.