At least 8 dead in Lagos plane crash
(AFP) – 51 minutes ago
Lagos — A plane with 20 people on
board suffered engine failure Thursday shortly after takeoff in Lagos,
crash-landing near an airport fuel depot and killing at least eight people,
officials told AFP.
The Associated Airlines charter
flight took off at roughly 9:30 am (0830 GMT) from the domestic terminal at
Lagos' Murtala Mohammed International Airport.
"It was going to Akure (in the
southwest). The engine failed on takeoff and it crash-landed and burst into
flames," said Supo Atobatele, spokesman for the Nigerian Airspace
Management Agency.
Ibrahim Farinloye of the National
Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) told AFP that "eight bodies" had
been recovered so far, with another person being treated for serious injuries.
"The rescue operation is still
on," he said, with NEMA staff searching the wreckage of the charter flight
for potential survivors.
Another NEMA spokesman, Manzo
Ezekiel, told AFP that the plane crashed in an area within the airport complex
where fuel is stored.
The area lies between the
international and domestic terminal, he added, but it was yet unclear if the
fuel caught fire.
Atobatele had earlier said the plane
crashed on the runway.
NUMBER OF CASUALTIES AND CAUSE OF CRASH IS STILL SKETCHY.WE WILL UPDATE YOU AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
