By IANS,
Abuja : Nigeria Monday began a three-day national mourning for the 193 people who died in one of the country’s worst plane crashes that occurred Sunday.
The Dana Air flight with 153 people on board plunged into a densely populated area of Lagos, killing all people on board and 40 on the ground, Xinhua reported citing the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority.
Local media said several high-ranked military and government officials and central bank bureaucrats were on the Boeing MD83 plane.
The aircraft was travelling from the capital Abuja to Lagos on a trip of 50 minutes.
President Goodluck Jonathan, who declared a three-day national mourning, cancelled all his public engagements and was due to visit the crash site Monday.
He said every possible effort will be made to ensure that the right lessons are learnt from the tragedy and that further measures will be put in place to boost aviation safety in the country.
Government officials said they did not expect to find any survivors from the crashed plane.
Rescuers have pulled out 62 bodies from the wreckage. Most of the bodies were beyond recognition.
Aviation Minister Stella Odua said the plane had sent a distress signal minutes before it crashed.
The black boxes have been found and handed over to police to probe into the cause of the accident.
A witness said he saw the plane flying lower and lower and swaying continuously.
A church, a two-storey residential building and a printing shop were damaged.
More than 40 people living in the building, each storey having six flats, were trapped inside. An inferno engulfed the building and sent out heavy smoke.