Plane crashes in Nigeria 150 DEAD!

June 3, 2012 | Filed under: Africa,Entertainment | Posted by:

Officials in Nigeria say they have found no survivors after a passenger plane carrying more than 150 people crashed into a residential area of the capital Lagos.

The local Dana airlines flight was carrying at least 153 people when it plunged into the ground in Nigeria’s largest city.

Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan has declared three days of national mourning and ordered “the fullest possible investigation” into the crash.

Earlier, a rescue official said he believed a number of people had also been killed on the ground.

Thick smoke rose from the area and flames could be seen shooting from a two-storey building, with other buildings in the area also badly damaged.

Residents said the plane had been coming in low, making a loud noise, when it slammed into the residential area.

The cause was not immediately clear, though an official from Nigeria’s rescue agency and an aviation official said the cockpit recorder had been located and handed over to police.

Wreckage including a detached wing could be seen in the neighbourhood as the inferno burned.

Residents reported seeing bodies being taken out of the area as rescue workers rushed in and a helicopter landed.

“The plane is still burning and gas coming out pervades the whole place, making search and rescue efforts difficult,” Tunji Oketunbi, a spokesman for Nigeria’s accident investigation bureau, told AFP from the scene.

“It was a Dana (airline) flight out of (the capital) Abuja to Lagos with about 153 people on board,” Nigeria’s head of civil aviation Harold Demuren told AFP.

Asked if anyone likely survived the crash he said, “I don’t believe there are any survivors.”

The crash happened in the Iju neighbourhood on the mainland of the city, where most of the city’s population lives.

A spokesman for Dana confirmed one of its planes had crashed but could not immediately provide further details.

“We lost communication with the aircraft. We are going to issue an official statement.”

Lagos, the largest city in Africa’s most populous nation, is home to an estimated 15 million people.