Nigeria plane crash kills all 153 aboard

(AP) — Emergency workers in Nigeria used cadaver dogs and cranes to search for corpses Monday at the site where an American-built airliner plunged to earth, killing all 153 aboard.



Rescue officials said they fear many more people may have perished on the ground.



A Nigeria Red Cross report said that 48 bodies had been recovered, with more being dug out from the rubble.



The pilots reported engine trouble before the plane crashed on its way into Lagos. Two years ago, the same Boeing MD-83 lost engine power due to a bird strike, according to an aviation database.



On a clear Sunday afternoon, the Dana Air jetliner smashed into businesses and crowded apartment buildings near Lagos' Murtala Muhammed International Airport, the worst air disaster in Nigeria in nearly two decades.



"The fear is that since it happened in a residential area, there may have been many people killed," said Yushau Shuaib, a spokesman for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency.



At the crash site Monday, police with cadaver dogs searched for bodies inside the wreckage. Overnight officials brought in a large crane from a local construction company to lift pieces of debris away.



They also brought blow torches to cut through what remains of the plane. The debris still smoldered Monday morning. Some wore masks to try and protect themselves from the stench of the dead.



Rescue workers used the crane from the construction site to lift the tail of the aircraft. The metal shrieked as it lifted skyward and was dropped down.



Investigators then climbed ladders to begin to look at its tail.



Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan arrived Monday to the crash site and spent about 20 minutes looking at the wreckage with federal lawmakers. He said the crash was a setback to Nigeria's Aviation Ministry.



"We will make sure this will not repeat itself in this country," he said.

However, that is a difficult challenge in a nation with a history of major passenger plane crashes in the last 20 years.



The cause of the crash remained unclear. The pilots radioed to the Lagos control tower just before the crash, reporting engine trouble, a military official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to journalists.



Rescue workers searched for the aircraft's black box recorders where flight data is stored, said Harold Demuren, the director-general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.



Boeing said in a statement on its website that the company is ready to provide technical assistance to the Civil Aviation Authority on Nigeria through the US National Transportation Safety Board.



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