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Updated: June 4, 2012 A commuter flight plunged into a densely populated area of Lagos,Nigeria, on Sunday, likely killing all 153 passengers as well asscores more on the ground. The flight hit two buildings beforeexploding into flames, an official tells TIME. Surrounding homesand shops were also destroyed: television pictures showed thefuselage of the plane lodged in a building, one of its wingsdetached. The debris and raging fire meant rescue services were struggling toreach the crash site. "Thick black smoke is surrounding the area,and fire at the wreckage is making search-and-rescue effortsdifficult," says Tunji Oketunbi, a spokesman for Nigeria's AccidentInvestigation Bureau, from the scene. Yushua Shuaib, spokesman forthe National Emergency Management Agency, adds that rescuers werestruggling to stop the fire from spreading in the densely packedarea. "Fire services are trying their best," he says. Nigeria'scivil-aviation authority has yet to release an official death toll."It is unlikely anyone onboard the plane survived, unless there isa miracle," says Oketunbi. (MORE: The Fatal Flight of the Superjet 100: Why Did It Slam into aMountain?) Lagos is home to at least 15 million people, many of them living incrowded shantytowns. The plane, which was arriving from theNigerian capital, Abuja, around two hours' flight to the north,crashed in the suburb of Agege, not far from Lagos' MurtalaMuhammed Airport. The area is highly populated. Clapperboardbusinesses and shacks tightly pack the dirt roads. Shuaib says manyresidents had been trapped in their homes by the fire or thecollapse of their building. "Some are critically injured," he says."We still can't determine whether the survivors are passengers orresidents." Relatives unable to reach family members by phonerushed to the crash site, fearing the worst. Though the death toll and cause of the crash are not yet known,President Goodluck Jonathan declared three days of nationalmourning and tried to reassure travelers about Nigerian air safety."President Jonathan assures air travelers in the country that everypossible effort will be made to ensure that the right lessons arelearned from the tragic loss of valuable lives in today's planecrash and that further measures will be put in place to boostaviation safety in the country," a statement from the Presidentsaid. (PHOTOS: Deadly Plane Crash in Pakistan) Nigeria has a poor record of airline safety. In 2006, 96 peopledied when an ADC airliner with 114 passengers onboard crashed andburned on takeoff from Abuja. Sunday's crash was the second in 24hours. On Saturday night, a Boeing 727 cargo plane crashed intoGhana's international airport, killing at least 10 people. Theplane flew from Lagos, and it hit the ground during a failedlanding. See TIME's Pictures of the Week. I am an expert from zxledtech.com, while we provides the quality product, such as LED Tube Lights Manufacturer , RGB LED Strip Lights, LED Ceiling Lamp,and more.
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