An aircraft with the
body of a former Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Agagu, on board,
crashed in Lagos on Thursday morning less than a minute after take-off
from the local wing of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport,
Ikeja.
The EMBRA plane 120,
with other 20 passengers on board, was conveying the body of the former
governor, who died a week ago, to Akure, the state capital, for the
final burial ceremonies.
The 30-seat plane,
belonging to Associated Airlines, was said to have crashed around 9.20am
immediately after take-off into the compound of a private firm, around
the MMIA access gate.
Residents around the area told our corespondent that the plane exploded mid-air before coming down.
As of the time of filling this report, five of the passengers had been rescued out of the 20 on board.
The passengers, report claimed, could be relations of the late governor.
Rescue operations were still ongoing.
No official statement
had been made by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, but the spokesman
for the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, Yakubu Datti, confirmed
the crash.