A passenger aircraft crashed yesterday into a building in downtown Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub, witnesses and the emergency services said, killing the 147 people on board.
“Nema has been alerted to an air crash in the Ishaga area of Agege, Lagos,” agency spokesman Yushua Shuaib said.
Angela Davies, a resident of the area where the plane crashed, said the aircraft had carried the brand of domestic airline Dana Air. Dana officials and the civil aviation authority were not immediately available for comment.
Witnesses said they saw the aircraft, which was bound for the capital, Abuja, strike a building and burst into flames.
Thousands of people crowded around the wreckage, from which black smoke billowed.
The crash occurred in a run-down part of the city where ramshackle tin-roofed houses line mud roads. Air crashes are not uncommon in Nigeria, which has a poor airline safety record. – (Reuters)