2 Lebanese among victims of Nigerian plane crash

Two Lebanese citizens were among the passengers on a plane that crashed in Lagos, Nigeria Sunday, killing all 153 aboard. Haitham Jumaa, director-general of Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry told The Daily Star Monday that Nadine Shediac, an architect whose mother is Nigerian and father is Lebanese, and Roger Awad, an investor from the Chouf, died in the crash. According to the National News Agency, Lebanon’s Consul to Nigeria, Dima Haddad, Shediac and Awad were the only Lebanese victims of Nigeria’s worst air disaster in nearly two decades. Emergency workers used cadaver dogs and cranes to search for corpses Monday at the site where the American-built airliner plunged to earth. Rescue officials said they fear many more people may have perished on the ground. A Nigerian Red Cross report said that 48 had been recovered so far, with more being dug out of the rubble. The pilots reported engine trouble before the plane crashed on its way into Lagos. Two years ago, the same Boeing MD-83 lost engine power due to a bird strike, according to an aviation database. On Sunday afternoon, the Dana Air jetliner smashed into businesses and crowded apartment buildings near Lagos’ Murtala Muhammed International Airport. “The fear is that since it happened in a residential area, there may have been many people killed,” said a spokesman for Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency, Yushau Shuaib. Overnight, officials brought in a large crane from a local construction company to lift the tail of the aircraft and other debris, and brought blow torches to cut through the aircraft wreckage. The debris still smoldered Monday morning. Some emergency workers wore masks to try and protect themselves from the stench of the dead. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan spent 20 minutes looking at the wreckage Monday with federal lawmakers and said the crash was a setback to Nigeria’s growing aviation industry. “We will make sure this will not repeat itself in this country,” he said, a pledge that will be hard to keep in a nation with a history of major passenger plane crashes in the last 20 years. On Sunday he declared three days of national mourning for the victims. The cause of the crash remained unclear Monday. The pilots radioed to the Lagos control tower just before the crash, reporting engine trouble, a military official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to journalists. The plane crashed along the typical approach path taken by aircraft heading into Lagos’ airport. The NNA reported Haddad said her consulate is “in ongoing communication with the foreign minister [Adnan Mansour] and we sent all the information to the Foreign Ministry with a photo of Awwad’s passport.” She said Awwad’s wife had left Nigeria Monday morning for Beirut. Mansour said preparations were under way to return the bodies of the victims. By The Daily Star