Nine killed In Nigeria Plane Crash

Lagos, Oct 3 (IANS) At least nine people were killed when a private jet carrying 27 people crashed near the Lagos Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Nigeria's southwestern Lagos State, the country's national emergency agency said Thursday.

Spokesperson for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Ibrahim Farinloye confirmed to Xinhua that nine bodies were recovered from the accident scene, while six others survived the crash.Another statement reaching Xinhua quoted the general manager of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, as saying that 11 people died in the crash and four survived.

The Associated Airline plane crash landed at the National Aviation Handling Company (NAHCo) wing of the airport.Aviation sources told Xinhua that the plane was carrying the body of late former governor of Ondo State Olusegun Agagu to Akure, the state capital, when it crashed in Lagos.

The NEMA spokesperson said the cause of the crash was still under investigation by the authorities.The country's Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, also confirmed the crash in a statement.

"An Embraer aircraft operated by Associated Airlines with Reg. No. SCD 361 en route to Akure from the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos, crashed shortly after take-off at about 9.30 a.m. local time," the statement said, adding that the plane had 20 passengers and seven crew members on board.

A Xinhua reporter at the local airport said the full manifest of the occupants is yet to be released by aviation authorities, as a press conference was scheduled at the Lagos airport.The last plane crash in Lagos was Dana Air's McDonnell Douglas MD-83 in June 2012 -- all 153 people on board were killed.