A passenger plane crashed into a densely populated part of Lagos, Nigeria's commercial hub, on Sunday, killing all 153 people on board and others on the ground, Reuters and AP reported. The McDonnell Douglas MD-83, operated by privately owned domestic carrier Dana Air, was coming into land on a flight from the capital Abuja to Lagos when it hit a building, and burst into flames. The dead included at least four Chinese, the Chinese Embassy in Nigeria said.
The flight's pilots radioed to the Lagos control tower just before the crash, saying the plane had engine trouble, a military official said. Rescue officials feared many others were killed or injured on the ground, but no casualty figures were immediately available. President Goodluck Jonathan declared three days of national mourning and ordered an investigation into the cause of the crash.
Nigeria has a history of major aviation disasters, though in recent years there hasn't been a crash. Sunday's crash appeared to be the worst since September 1992, when a military transport plane crashed into a swamp shortly after takeoff from Lagos. All 163 army soldiers, relatives and crew members on board were killed.