A commercial aircraft belonging to Dana Air has crashed in Lagos.The plane was on a local flight to Abuja and crashed into a densely populated residential area in the Iju/Shaga area of Lagos less than five minutes from Murtala Mohammed International Airport Lagos.
Though initial reports quoting the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority say there were 153 passengers on board, a statement from the office of the Minister of Aviation has said there were a total of 147 people on board.
"It was a Dana (airline) flight out of (the capital) Abuja to Lagos with about 153 people on board," Harold Demuren, head of NCAA said. "I don't believe there are any survivors."
A spokesman for Nigerian airline Dana confirmed one of its planes had crashed but could not immediately provide further details.
"I can confirm that one of our planes crashed today on the outskirts of Lagos," Tony Usidamen told AFP.
"We lost communication with the aircraft. We are going to issue an official statement."
Security personnel, aviation officials, the Red Cross and other bodies charged with rescue and disaster management are converging on the location from different areas of Lagos.
The vicinity of the crash site has already been cordoned off making it difficult for journalists to get a closer assessment of the situation and there are yet no reports on the number of casualties on the ground.
More details soon...
