Dana Air passengers’ plane carrying about 147 people crashed into a densely populated part of Lagos on Sunday, in what looked like a major disaster in Nigeria’s commercial hub.
There was no official word on casualties but the likelihood of finding survivors amid the wreckage seemed small. Thousands of people crowded around a smouldering two-story tin-roofed building into which the aircraft had plunged.
The plane, operated by privately owned domestic carrier Dana Air with 147 people on board, was coming into land on a flight from the capital Abuja, officials said on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to talk to the media.
Police used truncheons to beat back the massed onlookers, trying to make a path for rescue services, but the crowd was so large that ambulances, sirens wailing, were unable to get through.
“This crowd is crazy. The rescuers can’t even get access,” said Jimoh, a local motorbike taxi man who said he had felt a huge thud as the aircraft struck.
The plane burst into flames after hitting the building in the Agege suburb of the city, not far from Lagos’s Murtala Muhammed Airport, witnesses said.
“We heard a huge explosion, and at first we thought it was a gas canister,” said Timothy Akinyela, 50, a local newspaper reporter who was watching a football match with friends in a bar near the crash site in a residential street in a ramshackle part of town where tin-roofed houses line mud roads.
“Then there were some more explosions afterwards and everyone ran out. It was terrifying. There was confusion and shouting,” he said, showing a video of it that he had taken on his phone.
Smoke billowed from the windows and roof of the building that had somehow survived being completely demolished by the crash. Locals climbed on top of walls to try to look in. Bits of the plane were scattered on the muddy ground.
Neither Dana Air nor the civil aviation authority were available for comment.
Air crashes are not uncommon in Nigeria, Africa’s second biggest economy, which has a poor airliner safety record.
Dana Air’s website says it operates Boeing MD-83 planes to cities around Nigeria out of Murtala Muhammed Airport.
Names on the Dana Airline manifest Before departure this afternoon in Abuja
Onyeka Anyene; Hurria Lawal; Maimuna Anyene; Bakisumiadi Yindadi; Ebuka Enuma; Oluchi Onyeyiri; Sunday Enuma; George Moses; Ogechi Njoku; Noah Anyene; Kamsiyona Anyene; Stanford Obrutse; Kaiyenotochi Anyene; Okeke Hope; Rev. Ayodeji Cole; Ngozi Cole; Noah Anyene; Ailende Ehi; Oluwasegun Funmi Abiodun; and Shehu Sahad Usman, Alade Martins; Onita Jennifer (Mrs); Onita Josephine; Ike Ochonogo; Joy Alison; John Ahmadu; Akowe Fatokun Anjola; Fatokun Olaoluwa; Fatokun Ibukun; Buhari Maikudi; Amina Idris Bugaje; Ajani Adenle; IkeAbugu; Adijolola Abraham; Obot Emmanuel; Otegbeye Hadiza; Ehioghae Sunny; Onwuriri Celestine; Abikalio Otatoru; Noris Kim; Eyo Bassey; Njoku Charles; Anibaba Tosin; Okocha Christopher; Sobowale Femi; and Phillip Chukwu Ebuka, Sparagano Lawrence; Somolu Oluwakemi; Ariyibi Temitope; Meche Eke; Ojugbana Amaka; Ojugbana Christopher; Buna Walter; Coker Olumide; Lilian Lass; Mutittir Itsifanus; Yusuf Alli; Lt. Col. Jumbo Ochigbo; Eribake Wale; Zhai Shuta; Wang Yu; P. Awani; O. Awani; N. Chidiac; Rijoel Dhose; Li Hizha; Apochi Godwin; Lang Yi; Yinusa Ahmed; Faysal Inusa; Mojekwu Adaobi; Ibrahim D; Bamaiyi Adamu; Ifekowa Jones; Peter Nosike; Anthony Nwaokocha; Mahmud Aliyu; Nnadi John; Akweze Elizabeth; Dorothy Adedunni; Echeidu Ibe; Maria Okulehi; Jennifer Ibe; Okoko junjip; Sarah Mshelia; Ahmed Mbana; Okonji Patrick; Oyosoro Rajuli; Oyosoro Ugbabio; Kaikai Farida; David Kolawole Fortune; Eyinoluwa David Kolawole; Kaltum Abubakar; and Dakawa Mahmud. Patience Sunday Udoh; Asuquo Iniebong; Onemonelese Aimeihi; Onyeagocha Chidinma; Onyeagocha Ogechi; Ike Okoye; Amaka Raphael; Ijeoma Onyinjuke; Garba Abdul; Aisha Abdul; Benson Oluwayomi; Anthony7 Opara; Taiwo Lamidi; Awodogan Olusanmi; Obi Chinwe; Shaibu Memuna; Major I.G Mohammed; Nagidi Ibrahim; Attah Anthonia; Shaibu Sam; Ifeanyi Orakwe; Obinna Akubueze; Li Rui; Xie Zhenfeng; Oko Eseoghene; Chukwuemeka Okere; Adetunbi Adebiyi; Ibrahim Mantakari; Was Ruth; Wasa Awiyetu; Ojukwu Alvana; Lawal Anakobe; Nabil Garba; Mohammed Falmata; Ibrahim Jangana; Okikiolu Olukayode; Komolafe Olugbenga; Dike Chinwe; Dike Chike Ezugo; Olusola Arokoyo; Adetola Ayoola; Akinola Olumodeji; Olukoya Banji Saka Otaru; Adeleke Oluwadamilare; Yusuf Ibrahim; Ikpohi Obiola; Aikhomu Ehimen; Levi Ajuonuma; Mbong Eventus.
