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At Least 153 Perish in Nigeria’s Worst Aviation Disaster in Decades

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The ruins of a commercial airliner which crashed in Lagos on Sunday were still smouldering on Monday morning, and workers at the scene were taking bodies from the wreckage and clearing debris. The plane crashed into a densely populated neighbourhood of Nigeria's largest city, killing all 153 people on board and others on the ground.

The ruins of a commercial airliner which crashed in Lagos on Sunday were still smouldering on Monday morning, and workers at the scene were taking bodies from the wreckage and clearing debris.

The plane crashed into a densely populated neighbourhood of Nigeria's largest city, killing all 153 people on board and others on the ground.

The cause of the Dana Air crash remained unknown, as firefighters and police struggled on Sunday night to put out the flames around the wreckage of the Boeing MD83 aircraft.

All on board the flight were killed in the crash said the director-general of Nigeria's Civil Aviation Authority.

Lagos state government said in a statement that 153 people were on the flight, which had travelled from Nigeria's capital Abuja and was sue to land at Lagos in the nation's southwest.

Rescue officials feared many others were killed or injured on the ground, but no casualty figures were immediately available.

President Goodluck Jonathan later declared three days of national mourning in Africa's most populous nation.

The aircraft appeared to have landed on its belly into the dense neighbourhood that sits along the typical approach path taken by aircraft heading into Lagos's Murtala Muhammed International Airport.

The plane tore through roofs, sheared a mango tree and rammed into a woodworking studio, a printing press and at least two large apartment buildings before stopping.

A white, noxious cloud rose from the crash site that burned onlookers' eyes, as pieces of the plane lay scattered around the muddy ground.

While local residents helped carry fire hoses to the crash site, the major challenges of life in oil-rich Nigeria quickly became apparent as there wasn't any water to put out the flames more than three hours later.

Some young men carried plastic buckets of water to the fire, trying to douse small portions.

Fire trucks, from the very few that are stationed in Lagos state with a population of 17.5 (m) million, couldn't carry enough water.

Officials commandeered water trucks from nearby construction sites, but they became stuck on the narrow, crowded roads, unable to reach the crash site.

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