100 dead as lightning downs jet

From correspondents in Lagos
December 11, 2005

MORE than 100 people were feared dead overnight after a jet airliner crashed on landing in the southern Nigerian city of Port Harcourt.

Airport sources and Nigerian media reports said that between four and five survivors emerged from the burning wreckage of a Sosoliso airlines flight carrying 110 passengers and crew.
"Almost everyone was killed. There was a lot of flames," said an airport official reached by telephone from Lagos. "There were many students onboard, returning for the holidays."

An official with an international security consultancy which had staff at the airport said: "What we are hearing is that the plane was struck by lightning about 40 or 50 metres from touching down. The fuel in the wing caught fire and it exploded.

"The plane was carrying 110 people, about four people managed to get out," he added.

The private Nigerian television network also reported that there were 110 people on board and that five were thought to have survived.

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