Nigerian plane crash kills 153 onboard including two Lebanese

Two Lebanese nationals, Nadine Chediak and Roger Awad,  were killed in Sunday’s Nigerian plane crash.    

A commercial airliner crashed into a densely populated neighborhood in Nigeria's largest city on Sunday, killing all 153 people on board and others on the ground in the worst air disaster in nearly two decades for the troubled nation.    
The cause of the Dana Air crash remained unknown Sunday night, as firefighters and police struggled to put out the flames around the wreckage of the Boeing MD83 aircraft. Authorities could not control the crowd of thousands gathered around to see the crash site, with some crawling over the plane's broken wings and standing on a still-smoldering landing gear.      

Harold Demuren, the director-general of Nigeria's Civil Aviation Authority, said all on board the flight were killed in the crash. Lagos state government said in a statement that 153 people were on the flight traveling from Nigeria's central capital of Abuja to Lagos in the nation's southwest.      

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. 

In this context, Lady of the Rosary parish priest, Father Elie Lahoud told LBCI, that they are waiting for news concerning the victims’ bodies and how to receive them, adding that the Lebanese authorities are collaborating with Nigerian authorities to solve this issue.

In turn, Foreign Minister, Adnan Mansour, noted that he is making the necessary measures to arrange the transfer of the two bodies.          

Profile of the deceased:        

Recently married 39 years old Roger Awad, from the Chouf  town of Baykoun, had taken a second plane to travel from the administrative capital to the economic capital in Nigeria.          

Nadine Chidiac, 39 years old, also died in the plane crash. Her father is Michel and is originally from the town of Mizyara whom an estimated 50% of the population works in Nigeria. Her mother is a Nigerian national and works as an engineer.

AP/LBCI