Friday, November 25, 2005

LAGOS, Nigeria (CNN) -- Nigeria began three days of mourning Monday for 117 people who died when a passenger jet crashed shortly after takeoff from Lagos airport.Investigators were continuing to search the wreckage of the twin-engine Boeing 737 that went down late Saturday, killing all on board, Nigerian officials said. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo asked "all Nigerians to pray for all those aboard the plane and their families." Investigators were attempting to recover the plane's flight-data recorders in an effort to determine the cause of the crash.A U.S. citizen was among those killed in the crash, an FBI spokesman said Monday. Four FBI agents were at the site Monday after the Nigerian government requested their help with the investigation. A senior official at the U.S. Embassy in Abuja identified the American as Joseph Haydon but offered no other information about him.Dismembered and burned body parts, fuselage fragments and engine parts were strewn over an area the size of a football field near the village of Lissa, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of Lagos.A Red Cross official at the site said there was a 70-foot (20-meter) crater where the main impact occurred, Reuters said.There were 111 passengers and six crew members on board, according to Bellview Airlines.The plane left Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos at 7 p.m. (2 p.m. ET) Saturday. It was headed to the country's federal capital of Abuja, a trip that should have taken about 50 minutes, officials said. The pilot of Flight 210 issued a distress call just before the control tower lost sight of the plane, about three minutes after takeoff, officials said. The plane was missing for hours before the wreckage was found shortly after dawn. The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria scrambled two helicopters to search for the jet. Relatives of those on board also chartered a helicopter and search teams were dispatched.Bellview is a Nigerian airline popular with expatriates living in the West African nation and has been operating for about 10 years with no record of any incidents.A storm was passing through Lagos about the time the flight left. There were widespread rains and thunderstorms around the southwestern corner of Nigeria, particularly from Lagos to Ibadan.The normally bustling airport in Lagos, Nigeria's chief commercial center, was quiet Sunday with family members of passengers waiting for news of rescue efforts.President Obasanjo's wife, Stella Obasanjo, died Sunday at a hospital in Spain, officials said. She had traveled to Spain to undergo surgery and died from complications from it. (Full story)CNN's Jeff Koinange and Mari Ramos contributed to this report. Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

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