International

Nigeria mourns plane crash victims

KANO (Nigeria) May 5. The Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, today declared two days of national mourning for at least 106 people killed when a passenger plane ploughed through a suburb of the northern city of Kano.

``As a mark of honour to the deceased, flags will be flown at half-mast throughout Nigeria today...and tomorrow,'' Mr. Obasanjo said in a national broadcast.

Officials said the dead included all 76 people on board the domestic airliner and dozens killed in the rundown suburb where it crashed soon after takeoff on Saturday, razing or setting ablaze houses, a mosque and a school.

``Men formed a line, passing the bodies from the rubble to waiting buses,'' said a witness in the densely populated Gwammaja district.

``I saw the bodies of many children wrapped in straw mats. I counted more than 10 in a short time,'' he said.

``The place was filled with smoke and men were yelling orders.'' Mr. Obasanjo cut short an official tour of southern Africa to fly home.

``It has been confirmed that, before night stopped the search at the scene of the incident, 106 people who were passengers or people hit in their homes and schools have been picked up dead,'' he said. Rescue workers put the death toll much higher.

The Nigerian Sports Minister, Ishaya Mark Aku, was among the dead passengers, officials said.

— DPA

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