None of the 153 people on board a Nigerian airplane survived its
crash Sunday into a residential neighborhood in the West African nation's most
populated city, a top emergency management official said.
Mohammed
Sani Sidi, director general of Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency,
described the scene as "devastation."
While
other structures were affected, the building hit most directly by the airliner
was "totally destroyed," Sidi said.
He
added that it is "very difficult" to assess how many people on the
ground were killed or injured, and no such figures have been released.
"The rescue operations are still ongoing," Sidi said around 9:30 p.m. (4:30 p.m. ET). "It is very challenging because of darkness."
The
Sunday afternoon crash set off fire and caused pandemonium, as hundreds
congregated around the crash site, making it difficult for people to move --
including rescue personnel.
The
smell of jet fuel was evident in the air, yet that didn't stop people from
getting close to and in some cases on top of the mangled plane. Video from the
scene showed people holding up what appeared to be a fire hose, as others
clambered on the wreckage.
"There
were so many people, you had to push through people to walk," recalled
Pearl Ezeokeke, who was at the scene.
The
Dana Air flight from Abuja crashed in the afternoon into a building in Lagos,
said Akande Iyiola, zone coordinator with the emergency management agency. The
neighborhood was several miles from the city's airport, according to Patrick
Abbah of the same agency, though low-flying airliners could be seen flying
above the accident site.
Femi Green-Adebo, who lives
blocks away, described hearing a "loud explosion" hours earlier and
then running outside and seeing "smoke."
'It
was so hot, we couldn't get close," he told CNN iReport. 'I just kept
thinking about the people, if there as anyone in there.'
The
crash triggered three house fires, said Labaran Ahmed, a rescue officer. The
state-run Voice of Nigeria news organization reported that a manufacturing
company, a block of six apartments and a church were affected.
And
yet throngs flocked to the area despite the debris, fires and thick smoke.
"There
was ... so much (smoke) that, my eyes, I couldn't see beyond where I was
standing," Ilori Olayide told CNN.
While
the emergency management director said around 6:15 p.m. that "the fire has
been stopped now," a CNN reporter on the scene about 45 minutes later
could still see "orange flames."
Amongst
the crowd of civilians, witnesses reported seeing police, firefighters and
security personnel. Abbah, from the national emergency management agency, said,
"Everybody is present -- it's all hands on deck."
The
accident site was not cordoned off and, at least around 7 p.m., there appeared
to be no large lights on-site to aid in the rescue efforts.
President
Goodluck Jonathan declared three days of national mourning and ordered
"the fullest possible investigation" after the crash.
A
statement from his office noted that the incident came the same day that two
church bombings in northern Nigeria killed at least 15 people and wounded 38
others, according to Red Cross spokesman Andronicus Adeyemo.
"President
Jonathan assures air travelers in the country that every possible effort will
be made to ensure that the right lessons are learned from the tragic loss of
valuable lives in today's plane crash and that further measures will be put in
place to boost aviation safety," the statement from Jonathan's office
said.
Dana
Air began operations in November 2008 and has since become "one of
Nigeria's leading airlines," according to its website.
While
no specifics have been released about the plane that crashed, the airline said
its fleet consists of Boeing MD-83 aircraft. Boeing's website notes that such
planes can carry between 155 and 172 passengers, cover up to 2,504 nautical
miles and have a fuel capacity of 7,000 gallons.
CNN's
Vladimir Duthiers, Greg Botelho, Jareen Imam, Yousuf Basil, Nana Karikari-apau
and Ashley Gallagher contributed to this report.
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