E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Sunday Alamba / AP
Onlookers gather at the site of a plane crash Sunday in Lagos, Nigeria,
Updated at 5:19 p.m. ET: Nigerian authorities said Sunday that as many as 153 people were aboard a Dana Airlines passenger jet that crashed into a two-story building in Lagos, the country's largest city. "I don't believe there are any survivors," said Harold Denuren, Nigeria's director of aviation.
Authorities said that in addition to the passengers and crew aboard the plane, an unknown number of people may also have been killed or hurt on the ground. President Goodluck Jonathan canceled all appointments for Monday and declared three days of official mourning for the victims.
The plane was heading from Abuja, the capital, to Lagos when it went down about 3:30 p.m. local time (10:30 a.m. ET), authorities said. It crashed into a building and broke into two before burning up, witnesses said.
Local reports indicated that at least three buildings were severely damaged, one of them a church. Nigerian Eye reported from the scene that bodies could be seen burning on the ground, while pictures on the Internet showed large plumes of smoke across the city.
Police said they had recovered the plane's voice recorder. Al Jazeera reported from Abuja that witnesses said the the plane may have hit a power line in clear and sunny weather.
Razak Fadipe, acting head of the Lagos fire service, told The Daily Times of Nigeria that no one had been rescued alive as of 7:30 p.m. (2:30 p.m. ET) but that people were likely to be trapped in the one of the buildings.
Poor road access and a crowd of hundreds of people were complicating rescue efforts, in some cases blocking fire crews from reaching the scene.
"Our job is crucial to the rescue efforts," Fadipe said. "Without us doing our job, other rescue teams cannot gain access to even rescue any survivors that may be trapped in the building."
The Daily Times quoted a senior official of Dana Airlines, whom it didn't identify, as saying the plane had been undergoing repairs for several weeks.
"The station manager protested its use, but the Indian management insisted it should fly," the official said, according to The Daily Times.
The crash came after 10 other people were killed when a Boeing 727 cargo plane flying from Lagos crashed Saturday in Accra, the capital of Ghana, and hit a bus, the Sunday Tribune of Nigeria reported.
The crew of four survived, authorities said.
A senior military officer told the Sunday Tribune that the bus was severely damaged, while the plane's wings and tail broke off from its body.
More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:
- Murderer's corpse dragged from car, eaten by bear in Canada
- Queen leads giant Diamond Jubilee flotilla on rainy Thames
- Assad: Syria faces 'real war waged from the outside'
- As United States pulls out, China seeks role in Afghanistan
- U.S. drone strike kills 10 in northwest Pakistan
- Tahrir Square occupied as anger grows over Mubarak verdict
- Mourning the loss of more lives in Syria
Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world
Leave a Comment:
Is it just me, or do you find it ironic that we have a Kenyan flying this country into the ground?
It's just you!
DearLeader:
What has this to do with USA? Why are you involving USA into this? Looks like you are poised to blame this country for any thing that goes bad in another country. What a shameful, stupid and minimized IQ you have and cannot even understand a story. What are you reading stupid, moronic idiot.
Zip it, lib.
Om the lighter side, our Dear Leader has finally graduated from the third grade, at age 22.
To dear leader obamao, zip it, is just what you should do, douche bag! Try kissing Rush LIMBO's BUT!
ODS
Which country are you from? The US is run by an American; are you from Kenya?
The Indian Management is responsible and should be taken to court for negligence of poor customers flying to Abuja in the plane. This is the fault of the Indian that authorized the flight after a Nigerian counterpart was against the flight because the plane is not in good shape to fly. They should have mentioned the name of the Indian. The Nigerian government should send his ugly incompetent behind back to Delhi where he came from.
I think this should be a ride at Disneyland. The Plane Crash....
Yes, when over a hundred men, women and children die horribly, that is certainly a time for jokes.
How ironic. We have a Kenyan flying this country into the ground.
Changing your wording from post #53 doesn't make you any smarter.
Ignore this deranged moronic illiterate idiot that cannot read. Writing a valueless piece of nonsense. He must be in something.
Just earning my Soros troll $$. His brother Jorge Soros is a devout tea bagger.
DearLeaderObamaistheman, mark my words, this tragedy will be followed by another tragedy, involving someone or something you love. Now if you would be a good boy/girl please message me when it happens. You should learn some class or go back to class you ignoramous.
WTF?
Condolences to all families that lost family and friends in this tragedy. Sadly, it does appear the aircraft didn't gain enough altitude, was heavily loaded and along with high humidity and hot weather, all making for a longer take off roll, and it simply didn't clear fast enough; I doubt it was caused by a terrorist group. RIP to all.
I cannot say how heavily loaded this plane was but, regardless, that is not why it crashed. At maximum takeoff weight a plane must still meet a minimum climb gradient on one engine. It's a bit complicated for the neophyte, I won't get into it.
I would say this plane likely was not all that heavy. It is not uncommon to "tanker" fuel but a flight to Abuja is still not far from Lagos
I hope Abdul who contacted me that I won $556,000,000 sending him $669.00 for shipping and handling was not on the plane. He told my money would be delivered to me on Monday 6-4-12 at 10:00Am by armed guards. I took off work to claim my prize, now I cannot get a hold of him, am I beginning to worry. If need be I will send him $18.00 to cover any telephone calls.
0h am still crying for my inlaw who was buried last weekend. and now so many of my people have died, fathers, mothers, children wives, husbands and so on. what a life death is painful, flying locally is always dangerous God help us.
Tragic - but at least we should see a decrease in email scams for a while.
153 less REBELS to worry about,hopefully they were on board with them when it went down. who knows it may have been a REBEL that caused the crashed,their like Iran and Irag they go down with the plane. If it were good civilians on board then may you all rest in peace.
exokie:
Nigeria is Christians in the South and Moslems in the North. Lagos is in the south and the 153 people could have been christians travelling to Abuja the Capital City. Therefore not all people in Nigeria are terrorists or rebels. Pay attention to your statement otherwise you may be wishing yourself what you say.
Hmmm...wait for it...here it comes.... WHY FLY?
Could be because the drive from Lagos to Abuja is in excess of 10 hours. Flying time is about 50 minutes.
Any more intelligent questions?
ROTFLMAO.. Jet , what about the time on the ground with TSA ? What is the hurry? Who wants to go to Abuja? I know , I know , you like the peanuts and magazines and that niffy music they have on board.
http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1422&bih=719&q=abuja+bomb+blast&gbv=2&oq=Abuja&aq=7&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_l=img.1.7.0l10.3952.3952.0.12218.1.1.0.0.0.0.109.109.0j1.1.0...0.0.3BOKKAVK7xc
Well, retiredcoastguard, I have a pretty good idea TSA has NOTHING to do with an accident in Nigeria. Can't speak for the niffy music (very good for that term). I have, however, FLOWN between Lagos and Abuja many times.
You do the math.
Yeah, who want's to go? I'll tell ya', the leg between Lagos and Abuja is very busy. A lot of people want to do this. Abuja is pretty attractive compared to Lagos, too, as far as that goes. But it's all relative I suppose. Heck, I've flown into Baghdad in the summer, Petropavlovsk in the winter, Riyadh any time, etc. It's remotely possible that Tulsa is attractive compared to Tuscaloosa. Like I say, it's all a relative.
You do, retired, bring up the other time involved with travel. In a place like Nigeria for many people time is not an issue (yeah, I was the one to bring it up). It's about ability. Airline travel is the only option for many. This is an irony in a largely impoverished country. But it can be cheap and available compared to anything else. People travel a lot of times to meet with family they may not have seen for some time.
I'm sorry to hear of this accident. I have no doubt that many good people lost their lives in this and they have many more good people who feel their having gone.
Me too!
I have flown commercial and military a few times . Can't say i liked it . To each there own . I can swim real good but my arms get tired every time i try to fly..go figure and good day.
I get about 5-6 scam emails a week from Nigeria, all promising BIG money for free.
By now my wealth would be equal to Bill Gates'. Too bad I never claimed any of those "free" millions of dollars.
I now expect a few less offers weekly.
Apologies for those Nigerians who died in the crash and were not scam artists.
I am waiting on someone blaming the white man, such as "you know the white man wouldn't give a black man a good airplane". Everything under the sky is called racist these days, so why not?
Gee and unlike The Pentagon and the field in Pennsylvania there are aircraft parts thrown about..isn't that strange....mmmm
Give it a rest with the conspiracy crap paranoid liberal!
You put your life in your own hands if you fly any airline flown by a 3rd world country.
You put your life in your own hands driving to the airport, regardless the airline you fly or the city you're in.
(Note: Ok, Lagos IS a bit more dangerous to drive in than most cities.)
did it ever occur to any one of you that this crash could have been the result of a bird strike. Nigeria has quite the bird population and the plane was constantly being serviced two factors that would bring down this airliner. if it were true that the Indian management let this plane fly without proper mechanical clearance then the Nigerian government should hold these people criminally responsible and revoke their operating licence.
Horrible thing to happen. Even crashed into a church. Where was "god" on this one?
Idiots abound all around in the liberal gene pool!
First, my condolences to the survivors- many of whom must have watched in helpless horror as this tragedy unfolded.
But secondly....what recent changes could have contributed to this nightmare, when Nigeria had actually gone five years prior with no major disasters?
One word: Deregulation.
In early January of this year, ironically named President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria announced broad governmental deregulation in order to help address the national debt by reducing governmental obligation. Not that this was the only factor- but it was hardly useful to safety in general, and was widely protested by unions- which are often strangely obsessive about safety in general.
Here are some interesting statistics to consider...African air traffic comprises only 3% of air traffic worldwide- but accounts for 17% of the total air traffic related fatalities. See: http://goafrica.about.com/b/2007/06/29/are-african-airlines-safe.htm
Regardless- the air safety rating awarded Nairobi just days before Goodluck's sweeping deregulation was quite high- see: http://proshareng.com/news/11838
There have been ongoing concerns with Nigerian maintenance and safety regulations for some time- but the country seemed well on its way to turning all that around.
Now this.
Deregulation may enhance profit- but historically, those profits don't end up going into the economy in any meaningful way- instead, those profits enhance the wealth of those who already have more money than they can spend.
This crash is no laughing matter- but humor is sometimes lethally descriptive; after all, lots of folks would refer to the huge profits possible in a deregulated environment as "making a killing".
Who knew the term was so.... literal.
Indian management said it could fly? Just by taking in to account Indian train safety records, I can safely assume they should not be in the AIRLINER BUSINESS!
What a shock look at the crap there flying, old 70's russian surplus trash. No wonder they crash all the time. The country in turmoil and there leaders are corrupt
johnny,
Actually, this appears to be a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 - hardly "Russian surplus trash". There are still a lot of these flying around the US, in fact.
MD-83's...aren't they 80's technology?
In the meantime, Henry Kissinger is leaving the Bilderberg meeting and he is photographed in his limo.
http://www.infowars.com/war-criminal-kissinger-pictured-leaving-bilderberg/
Strange, how the article never mentions the type of equipment involved, but, had no problem mentioning the previous accident, which occurred in Ghana, with a Boeing 727. Is this just a case of not knowing the info, in which case, the writer just couldn't wait to publish the story, or something else? Shouldn't we know exactly ?
The Nigerian are not looking for bodies, well in a way they are they are looking to look and grab any money they can find. the scavenger the dead, and then they collect them. they dont look for people they look for iphone, cellphone laptops, and jewelery, and money. they would care less who was on the plane, why else would they be there.
About 2 % would care about the people on the plane
I am very sorry for the loss in lives. This IS Nigeria, after all, and well...according to some news reports, this particular plane has been under repair for some time. I read it was owned by an Indian company. GEE..3 days of mourning. Useless bunch of crap over there if this all they can offer. They make me want to puke.
You should notice a dramatic drop in the overall number of e-mail Internet Scams