Remains of Nigerian crash victims recovered

Recovery teams gathered human body parts in plastic bags on Monday and prepared to excavate a smouldering crater left by a Nigerian passenge...

Recovery teams gathered human body parts in plastic bags on Monday and prepared to excavate a smouldering crater left by a Nigerian passenger plane that crashed killing all 117 people on board.

Investigators say the Boeing 737 nosedived into a marsh north of Lagos on Saturday night and most of the fuselage and corpses were now buried beneath the red-hot impact zone 4 metres deep.

“The plane nosedived, the wings blew off, but the main body of the plane is buried underground,” said Ibrahim Farinloye, a spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency.

Story continues below this ad

Dismembered and burned body parts, fuselage fragments and engine parts were strewn over an area the size of four football fields near Lissa village, 30 km north of Lagos.

Aviation Minister Babalola Borishade said he had asked construction companies to help dig out the crater, which was still emitting a pungent smoke on Monday.

Bellview Airlines flight 210 lost control tower contact three minutes after take-off from Lagos en route to Abuja in an electrical storm, officials said. A presidency source said the pilot sent a distress signal before losing contact.

As Nigeria mourned those who died in the crash, the country also remembered President Olusegun Obasanjo’s wife Stella (59), who died on Sunday after cosmetic surgery. —Reuters