More than 150 killed in Nigeria plane crash

EMERGENCY workers in Nigeria fought fires and searched for bodies through the night after an airliner crashed, killing all 153 on board.

Rescue officials said today they fear many people may also have perished on the ground.

A Nigeria Red Cross report said 48 bodies had been recovered so far, but more were being dug out from the rubble.

The Boeing MD-83 of Dana Air crashed into businesses and crowded apartment buildings near Lagos’ Murtala Muhammed International Airport on Sunday.

It is the worst air disaster in Nigeria in nearly two decades.

“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.

The cause of the crash remained unclear. The pilots radioed to the Lagos control tower just before the crash, reporting engine trouble, a military official said.

Rescue workers were searching for the aircraft’s black box recorders where flight data is stored, said Harold Demuren, the director-general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.

The aircraft, heading to Lagos from Abuja, appeared to have come down on to the dense neighbourhood 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 apartment buildings before stopping.