NIGERIA: At least 15 passengers die after an Embraer aircraft crashes in Lagos shortly after take-off
Record ID:
236201
NIGERIA: At least 15 passengers die after an Embraer aircraft crashes in Lagos shortly after take-off
- Title: NIGERIA: At least 15 passengers die after an Embraer aircraft crashes in Lagos shortly after take-off
- Date: 3rd October 2013
- Summary: LAGOS, NIGERIA (OCTOBER 3, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF AMBULANCE VEHICLES DRIVING AWAY FROM SCENE OF PLANE CRASH PLANE WRECKAGE AT THE SCENE RESCUE WORKERS PUTTING OUT THE FIRE VARIOUS OF PLANE WRECKAGE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE LOOKING AT THE WRECKAGE VARIOUS OF RESCUE WORKERS SEARCHING FOR VICTIMS OF THE CRASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) RASAK FADIPE, DIRECTOR, LAGOS STATE FIRE SERVICE, SAYING: "As at the time we arrived, we rescued about 11 victims suspected dead so and they were somehow burnt. There was no (way) how we could be able to take note whether somebody was a corpse before the fire outbreak." VARIOUS OF WRECKAGE (SOUNDBITE) (English) RASAK FADIPE, DIRECTOR, LAGOS STATE FIRE SERVICE, SAYING: "Nobody there again there's nobody there again; (Reporter asking: so what happened to the remaining five? It's not balancing, you said twenty) that's what we heard that about twenty but with what we have done now and what we are seeing, you could see that there is nobody under the rubbles again. We have been able to turn over, twist everything, turn it, there is nobody that is in there again." VARIOUS OF PLANE WRECKAGE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE LOOKING ON AMBULANCE VEHICLES DRIVING OUT OF THE SITE
- Embargoed: 18th October 2013 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Nigeria
- Country: Nigeria
- Topics: Accidents,General,Transport
- Reuters ID: LVADTRIXGS92X47409FZUUESJU10
- Story Text: At least fifteen people were killed when an Embraer passenger plane crashed shortly after take-off just outside Lagos airport's domestic terminal on Thursday (October 3), Nigerian authorities said.
Airports Authority general manager Yakubu Dati told a news conference the plane was an Embraer 120, a Brazilian make.
The Associated Airlines plane was flying from Nigeria's commercial capital to Akure, a southwestern town about 140 miles (225 km) away.
He said he did not know the engine's maker. But a diplomatic source told Reuters the engine was a Pratt & Whitney Canada, a unit of United Technologies Corp, PW100.
Aviation Ministry spokesman Joe Obi had earlier said 27 people were on the plane but Lagos state emergency management agency chief Olufemi Damilola Oke-Osanyintolu said at the site that in fact only 20 of the 27 seats were filled.
Head of Lagos fire service Rasak Fadipe told journalists at the site of the crash all bodies have been recovered from the debris.
"As at the time we arrived, we rescued about 11 victims suspected dead so and they were somehow burnt. There was no (way) how we could be able to take note whether somebody was a corpse before the fire outbreak," Rasak Fadipe said. "With what we have done now and what we are seeing, you could see that there is nobody under the rubbles again. We have been able to turn over, twist everything, turn it, there is nobody that is in there again."
Several local radio stations and Channels TV reported that it was carrying a family and the body of former governor of Ondo state Olusegun Agagu to his funeral.
A Reuters reporter saw emergency workers bring out a coffin from the wreckage.
Air crashes are relatively common in Nigeria, which despite having Africa's second-biggest economy has a poor safety record.
In June last year, 163 people died when a Dana Air plane crashed into a Lagos apartment block in the country's worst airline disaster in two decades. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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