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Nigeria: 15 feared dead in plane crash near Lagos Airport
(Reuters) – Fifteen people were killed when an Embraer passenger plane crashed shortly after take-off just outside Lagos airport’s domestic terminal on Thursday, Nigerian authorities said.
Airports Authority general manager Yakubu Dati told a news conference the plane was an Embraer 120, a Brazilian make.
The Associated Airlines plane was flying from Nigeria’s commercial capital to Akure, a southwestern town about 225 kilometers (140 miles) away.
“An Embraer 120 plane came down at 9.32 a.m. (4:32 a.m. EDT) with 20 passengers on board, inclusive of crew, and five people survived,” Dati said. “We have recovered the black box.”
He said he did not know the engine’s maker. But a diplomatic source told reporters the engine was a Pratt & Whitney Canada, a unit of United Technologies Corp, PW100.
Aviation Ministry spokesman Joe Obi had earlier said 27 people were on the plane but Lagos state emergency management agency Olufemi Damilola Oke-Osanyintolu said at the site that in fact only 20 of the 27 seats were filled.
Several local radio stations and Channels TV reported that it was carrying a family and the body of former governor of Ondo state Olusegun Agagu to his funeral.
