Picture Credit:Channelstv
An Associated Airlines plane bound for Akure Ondo State in South West Nigeria has crashed this morning killing some of the passengers on board.The private airline was conveying the corpse of former Governor of Ondo State,Mr Olusegun Agagu and members of his family.
But the death toll released later in the day revealed that 13 people died, 6 people survived.One other survivor was said to be in coma.
The Accident Investigation Bureau said rescue efforts ended in the day and investigations have commenced into the incident.The flight recorder also known as the Black Box has been recovered.
AFP reported that the 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 reportedly said
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.
Agagu died recently in Lagos .
