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Subscribe to RSSA plane with about 150 passengers landed on a two-story building in a suburb of Lagos, Nigeria. NBC's Rohit Kachroo reports.
LAGOS, Nigeria -- A commercial airliner crashed into a densely populated neighborhood in Nigeria's largest city on Sunday, killing all 153 people on board and others on the ground in the worst air disaster in nearly two decades for the troubled nation.
Rescue officials said they fear many more people may have perished on the ground. The airline involved said an investigation had begun into the cause of Sunday's crash.
A Nigeria Red Cross report said 110 bodies had been recovered, with more being dug out from the rubble. A U.S. official said American citizens had been aboard the flight.
The pilots reported engine trouble before the plane fell out of the sky on a clear afternoon, smashing into businesses and crowded apartment buildings near Lagos' Murtala Muhammed International Airport. The flight was bound for Lagos, Nigeria's commercial center, from Abuja, the capital. Two years ago, the same MD-83 lost engine power due to a bird strike, according to an aviation database.
"The fear is that since it happened in a residential area, there may have been many people killed," said Yushau Shuaib, a spokesman for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency.
PhotoBlog: Smoldering scene in Lagos, Nigeria after plane crash
The cause of the Dana Air crash remained unknown Sunday night, as firefighters and police struggled to put out the flames around the wreckage of the Boeing MD83 aircraft. Authorities could not control the crowd of thousands gathered around to see the crash site, with some crawling over the plane's broken wings and standing on a still-smoldering landing gear.
Harold Demuren, the director-general of Nigeria's Civil Aviation Authority, said all on board the flight were killed in the crash. Lagos state government said in a statement that 153 people were on the flight traveling from Nigeria's central capital of Abuja to Lagos in the nation's southwest.
The flight's pilots radioed to the Lagos control tower just before the crash, saying the plane had engine trouble, a military official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to journalists.
Rescue officials feared many others were killed or injured on the ground, but no casualty figures were immediately available. Firefighters and local residents were seen carrying the corpse of a man from one building, its walls still crumbling and flames shooting from its roof more than an hour after the crash.
President Goodluck Jonathan later declared three days of national mourning in Africa's most populous nation.
The aircraft appeared to have landed on its belly into the dense neighborhood that sits along the typical approach path taken by aircraft heading into Lagos' Murtala Muhammed International Airport. The plane tore through roofs, sheared a mango tree and rammed into a woodworking studio, a printing press and at least two large apartment buildings in the neighborhood before stopping.
'Huge explosion'
Most people in Lagos' Agege suburb -- where the crash occurred -- live in tin-roofed buildings along unpaved streets.
"We heard a huge explosion, and at first we thought it was a gas canister," said Timothy Akinyela, 50, a local newspaper reporter who was watching a soccer match on TV with friends in a nearby bar.
A white, noxious cloud rose from the crash site that burned onlookers' eyes, as pieces of the plane lay scattered around the muddy ground.
While local residents helped carry fire hoses to the crash site, the major challenges of life in oil-rich Nigeria quickly became apparent as there wasn't any water to put out the flames more than three hours later. Some young men carried plastic buckets of water to the fire, trying to douse small portions. Fire trucks, from the very few that are stationed in Lagos state with a population of 17.5 million, couldn't carry enough water. Officials commandeered water trucks from nearby construction sites, but they became stuck on the narrow, crowded roads, unable to reach the crash site.
The dead included at least four Chinese citizens, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported late Sunday, citing Chinese diplomats in Nigeria. Officials at the Chinese embassy in Nigeria could not be reached for comment by the AP.
The spokesman for the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, Levi Ajuonuma, was also among the dead, according to a passenger list released by the airline. Ajuonuma was also de facto spokesman for the oil minister in OPEC member Nigeria, Africa's biggest crude producer.
Endemic corruption
Nigeria, home to more than 160 million people, suffers from endemic government corruption and mismanagement. The nation also has a history of major aviation disasters, though in recent years there hasn't been a crash. In August 2010, the U.S. announced it had given Nigeria the Federal Aviation Administration's Category 1 status, its top safety rating that allows the West African nation's domestic carriers to fly directly to the U.S.
But many travelers remain leery of some airlines. On Saturday night, a Nigerian Boeing 727 cargo airliner crashed in Accra, the capital of Ghana, slamming into a bus and killing 10 people. The plane belonged to Lagos-based Allied Air Cargo.
Officials with Lagos-based Dana Air did not respond to calls for comment Sunday night. The airline has five aircraft in its fleet and runs both regional and domestic flights. Local media reported a similar Dana flight in May made an emergency landing at the Lagos airport after having a hydraulic problem.
Nigeria has tried to redeem its aviation image in recent years, saying it now has full radar coverage of the entire country. However, in a nation where the state-run electricity company is in tatters, the power grid and diesel generators sometimes both fail at airports, making radar screens go blank.
Sunday's crash appeared to be the worst since September 1992, when a military transport plane crashed into a swamp shortly after takeoff from Lagos. All 163 army soldiers, relatives and crew members on board were killed.
'Oh God, we lost him'
The crash also comes as Nigeria, which became a democracy in 1999 after years of military rule, faces increasing sectarian bloodshed across its largely Muslim north from a radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram. Earlier Sunday, a suicide car bomber killed at least 15 people and wounded dozens of others.
As night began to fall Sunday, more and more worried relatives of passengers arrived in the neighborhood, pushing their way down the crowded, narrow streets to make it to the crash site. One man stopped to ask about the crash, whether any passengers walked away alive.
His eyes grew wide when he heard no one escaped alive, his hand rising to his mouth. His brother was onboard.
"Oh God, we lost him," the man whispered, before slowly walking away.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
So sad(:
Prayers to the victims. Condolences to their families and friends.
suckit11 banned, new user making racist remarks.
Failed audition.
Oh no! The Nigerian Prince was on that plane, now I'll never get my millions...
I hate you for making me laugh.
"It's alright, I just moved to Brazil. Please send $10,000 per Western Union to my new address to receive your 3.2 million share of your heritage".
Signed, The Nigerian Prince and family
People remember that this could happen to anyone at any given time, and appreate who and what you have and love, because you only live once in this life time. To all of you holy rollers god or jesus had nothing to do with this and praying will have zero effect, except in your minds, so stuff it.
Agreed
Techman, I'm certainly not religious, but why exactly do annoying Atheist like yourself feel the urge to always talk about anti-religion in some contex. You go out of your way to tell people they can't pray for them? There is no diffrence between having someone in your thoughts from a tragedy, or praying for those that died and those who lost. It's really doing the same thing.
Why is it that the 'supposed' intellecuals of our era, free of the dogma of religion, seem to appear like nothing more than angry, bitter psedo-intellecuals who can only write a coherent statement as long as there is some anti- religious statement involved.
On behalf of the agnostics, theists, deist ect.. please stfu.
UruK: Well said.
Your post started out thoughfully, then it went downhill from there. If believing is a comfort to the families and friends of the victims, let them.
As an agnostic, I don't believe I have to stfu, Uruk. However, Techman lacks something called tact. Everyone believes what they want, and they also shouldn't stuff it down anyone else's throat. May the families find whatever solace and comfort they can, at this time of grieving.
Thanks,Teckmann, you arrogant pric*!
appreate - Oh by the way it's appreciate. You can 'stuff it' also. I agree with KyEngineer - may the families find whatever solace and comfort they can, at this time of grieving.
(It's the little red thingy under the words)
As an atheist, I agree with Uruk. Quit trying to project your hatred of everything and just accept the fact that most people do things differently than you do. Some people like to pray and that's their life-given right to do so.
Donnie Darko
This is really sad. To die in such conditions ... I pray that God gives his strength to the relatives and friends to those who lost thier lives in the flight.
Oh Africa, cradle of civilisation, when will we learn to make our citizens the prime priority. No water to put off the fire? This is not fair. We will all die if the government does not take up its responsibility to secure the lives of its citizen.
Nigerian Government! Nigeria have started in the right path of democracy, make Africa proud by taking it to the end. A better Nigeria is a better black Africa.
I frequently hear African-Americans complain about the social equality conditions here in the US, and I remind them "It could be worse, you could be living in Africa".
Techman;
You really have NO understanding of the concept of God as with most people. People are always trying to personify God. God controls time and fate. All things happen because of these two factors.
If one believes that God controls time and fate, and that all things happen because God has determined when they should occur and the outcome, then the people who spend all their energy worshiping God and diligently seeking a more successful path to eliciting God's favors should be the people overseeing, running, and maintaining all the complicated and dangerous stuff. I'm unconvinced, though I know that deeply religious people are responsible for a great many astounding scientific accomplishments, and that science and rationality still leave a great many big questions unanswered. I've read through quite a lot of NTSB accident reports, and "He who neglecteth his maintenance and airspeed shall surely be smited by the earth and become as a pillar of fire." is about as close as it gets to your philosophy.
No you moron. These things happen because of negligence, poor quality control, sloppy workmanship. Not "fate", not somebody's "time to go", just pure lazy and negligent human actions.
I don't think God spends his time poring over everything that happens on earth. God set time in motion, if you call that controlling it. I don't think he's constantly tampering with it. As for fate, I think God gives humans choices. I think God allows people to control their own fate as much as he does. He may influence me to do something, but I don't think he'll force me to.
Oh yeah, God gives us choices alright. He endowed us with an innate curiosity, set up conditions (e.g. Adam & Eve - don't eat the forbidden fruit) guaranteed to make us fail, and then gets pissed when we do what anyone would predict. He may allow us choices to control our own fate, but when we make a choice that doesn't suit him he decides to turn us into pillars of salt, or drowns us in a big flood, or causes some other calamity. God is a sadistic moron.
Disasters of all types happen because we live in a falled world. Disasters will continue until the end when Jesus Christ will reign in a world without sin nor disasters for those who put their trust in Him.
Need a moderator here urgently since a lot of comments are racist at the best, not to mention the usual controversy between religulous and atheists.
Well call 911 or get thicker skin then.
Besides no one blamed obama so it can't really be racist now can it?
A true tragedy of many lives lost.
Now a question that goes back many years. Why were large parts of the plane such as wing pieces, the large tail assembly and jet engines as seen in this accident NEVER seen or found from the plane that was supposedly flown into the pentagon building back on 9/11???
@Ray, because 911 did not happen like it was reported! See "Fahrenheit 911" and other documentaries. I find it scary to research because I really believe our government, especially Bush had a hand in it. Scary.
Fahrenheit 911 by Michael Moore. Pretty much profited off that disaster not to mention promoting a political agenda. Nope, I won't fall into the conspiracy trap.
Anita, I have seen it and looked at photos and video of the "crash site" which is why I brought it up I trust our government as far as I can throw the pentagon.
Ken, forget Fahrenheit 911 then. But please explain what happened to the plane that hit the Pentagon. That's a whole mystery in itself. There are a lot of unanswered questions for me regarding several things that happened during 911. I just want a reasonable answer backed up by reasonable proof. I'm not looking to make a big conspiracy out of it. I would much rather believe the story the government told, but I just can't right now.
I served in the USAF and as a civilian airport firefighter untill July 2010 I have seen my share of carnage in aircraft crashes, but never regardless of the severity of impact did we not have bodies to recover and large pieces of aircraft to sift through.
Ray, the plane landed on its belly and broke up. On 9/11, flights such as United 93 were flown deliberately, at full speed, into the ground. Plane parts in the Twin Towers melted due to the intense heat. As for the Pentagon, there are photos of wreckage, unless you believe them to be photo-shopped in.
It's the difference between trying to land a plane, and using one as a missile. The plane parts and people parts were still there, just smashed beyond recognition.
Aluminum, and magnesium burns at those temperatures. Much of it was fried to a crisp like a burnt piece of paper, then crumpled and blown away during the collapse.
Not exactly rocket science here. Much of the wreckage literally blew away. Even steel burns when the temperatures are high enough.
""Oh God, we lost him," the man whispered, before slowly walking away." Which god? Godchecker.com lists over 3,000 gods that humans have invented.
alawil2,
From one atheist to another, you are a sociopathic jerk. Your comments are offensive, hurtful, unnecessary and totally off subject. When I checked A$$holechecker.com your name came up first.
How totally uncalled for Alan. At a time of such immense pain as this man was obviously feeling, it wouldn't be uncommon for even an atheist to utter an 'OMG' or 'Oh God'. Its a figure of speech to express the feeling of overwhelming grief the family is probably feeling. Get over yourself.
The God of HIS belief system, you IDIOT!
Good job Alan. Over 150 people are dead and all you can talk about is how a person said "God." Grow up and show some compassion instead of trying to be provocative.
.
The racist no know bounds, they are the most sickening of all of humanity. That is all they see is color, they nothing more then parasites, who leeches onto humanity, and continually tries to destroy it at all cost. These people are like the miami face eating cannibal, they have no mission they have no reason they just are here to wreak havoc along the way. Most of them are extremely cowardice, introverted, psychopaths, virgins who for some self-loathing reason hate what they can not be. They will meet their end, and a glorious day it will be for the rest of humanity.Racist are like coack roches they run when the lights come on, put once you step on them they are nothing, but shoe dung.
RIP to all the victims of this horrible tragedy, may your souls Rest In Peace.
"Nigeria has tried to redeem its aviation image in recent years, saying it now has full radar coverage of the entire country. However, in a nation where the state-run electricity company is in tatters, the power grid and diesel generators sometimes both fail at airports, making radar screens go blank."
Sounds as though their government-run companies work as well as those in the U.S.
That aside, my heart goes out to the husbands, wives, children, and other family members of those who were on board.
Well, the hundreds of curious onlookers already rummaging through the wreckage have already doomed any possibility of isolating the cause of the crash, since over a ton of scrap metal has already been hauled away to sell in the markets. Onlookers standing in and on the wreckage tells a sad story about Nigeria. There is basically no infrastructure in place to deal with this sort of thing on an intelligent basis, and no crowd control whatsoever. Our condolences to the families of all the passengers.
It reminds me of ants cleaning up after someone stepped on their mount. They hurry up as fast as they can to fix it. These people see an opportunity to make some money selling scrap metal and they go for it. That is a perfect example of a third world country in dire need of education, better economy and mainly population control. The population control would fall under education. Terribly sad for the people on board and the ones on the ground.
Sad that's what it has to come down to.
God does not cause plane crashes, or earthquakes or volcanos. They happen. Whether Nigeria, Chile, Japan or the USA, a tragedy is just that... a tragedy.
Why do I say God has no effect? Because it would destroy the belief that God is all good, and all powerful. If you believe that God has these attributes, then God cannot cause a tragedy that makes innocent children suffer.
Plane crashes are caused by weather, pilot error, poor maintenace, or hijackers. God has nothing to do with it.
btw, I am an Agnostic.
Humans were put on earth to experience emotions, sensations and to grow. The once beautiful planet is now polluted, damaged by wars, and going through the devastation of an exploding population. It is our own doing. God, or the cosmic energy is only a witness as we need to improve ourselves or else. We create our present and our future...or not. " God" is not involved in my opinion.
Based on my belif system, God can cause anything He wants to happen, but usually allows up to play things out ourselves. He created basic universal laws. I'm willing to bet that some of those laws affected this crash. Based on that statement, one could say God indirectly brough the plane dow, but I'm pretty sure he didn't just chuck it out of the sky.
Thats twice I have heard the MD 83 (McDonald Douglas) that crashed was a Boeing aircraft. Has anyone been to Nigeria? They elected a president named "Goodluck" and he dresses like a wanna be rapper/gangster and then they want to know why they have problems like this? Taxi drivers do not use their headlights at night because they think it will drain their battery. They fight over the most petty things and they never see the big picture. I'm surprised things like this doesn't happen everyday...... wait a minute, it does.
Not Boeing's aircraft. A McDonnell-Douglas design, and generally a safe one.
That guy who dresses like a gangsta rapper is a PHD holder and probably incredibly smarter than you will ever hope to be in your life. That is the cultural dress of the Ijaw people. Before you speak so quickly do some research so your incredible cultural insensitivity and smashing ignorance do not intrude upon other peoples lives.
They fight over the most petty things and they never see the big picture
That's what happens when every day is a fight for survival. How about you do something to try to fix it instead of complain about it.
Systemic government corruption and mismanagement. I think that about sums it up. And as far as Mr. Goodlucks' education, a phd doesn't infer common sense or incorruptability. "Third world" nations seem to have one thing in common, what aid they recieve for the people usually winds up in the pockets of those who are supposed to be providing the aid. Corruption. If the plane had mechanical problems, why was it in the sky instead of the shop? A grounded plane makes no profit. These people died from greed.
Goodluck has a PhD in Zoology from the University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria. He was born into a family of canoe makers so his education is impressive. But his dress as a Gangsta and the way the country is in shambles all the time, despite all the wealth of oil it has, doesn't translate into Goodluck being a very intelligent leader.
What nobody wants to come out and say (I'll take the hit and do so even though people will probably bash me for saying something true) is that Africa is among the most dangerous places to fly. Standards aren't very high and many airlines fly very old planes that were retired from US or European fleets. The last MD83 rolled off the assmembly line in the late 90's and I doubt this plane was even that new.
And the MD83 is Boeing in name only. It was already decades into production by the time that Boeing made the mistake of acquiring McDonnell Douglas.
One of the main problems with the commercial aviation industry is that when planes crash, mechanics don't die.
You put complicated modern aircraft in a place lie Nigeria and the maintenance is probably going to be shortcut in some kind of corrupt situation.
Adding to this problem it the fact that very used and beat up planes end up in countries like Nigeria when the affluent nations are done getting the best hours out of them. They are problem aircraft, with high maintenance and parts needs (both of which they may not get in that third world situation), and are suffering from the age and number of cycles they have experienced.
Those conditions and facts are a recipe for continuing disasters.
No water for the fire hoses. If anyone was pulled alive from this inferno....where would they take this person ? any decent hospital around ? What a mess. Maintenance of the planes is likely questionable and I am pretty sure the pilots have learned to fly with less than optimal requirements. Disasters can be expected.
Thats it....lets ban planes.
I frequently hear African-Americans complain about the social equality conditions here in the US, and I remind them "It could be worse, you could be living in Africa".
See the photos of the Lagos crash? This is what a bona fide air disaster looks like on the ground. Now, compare this to that of putative crashes at Shanksville, and the Pentagon, to understand the dearth of evidence supporting the official narrative at these two venues.
Just one more reason not to go to Africa - the planes have trouble too.
This is a very sad event for the entire continent and we as africans need to have a few moment of silence in our various homes and indeed pray for our lost brothers and sisters that their souls rest in perfect peace before God.
My condolences to the victims' families.
How screwed up and corrupt is the Nigerian government when they can't even get water to put out a fire? It's because the bureaucrats would line their pockets and let their citizens burn. Pathetic.
@ Derek, exactly, and USA is moving in that direction, particularly with "privatization" = extractive elites robbing the COMMONWEALTH.
The USA does not have a COMMONWEALTH to rob from.
If you were referring to the common wealth,well we don't have that either.