Conflicting Report Galore On Number Of Casualties

It was confusion galore yesterday, as various agencies of government Gave conflict information on the number of casualties in the crashed Associated Airline that came down in Lagos yesterday

While the Ministry of Aviation put the number of persons at 27,  the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and  the AIB said they were 20.

FAAN and the AIB  said the 20 comprised  13 passengers and seven   crew members, which included two pilots, two cabin crew members and three  engineers.

The Special Assistant to the Minister of Aviation, Mr. Joe Obi,  had said  in a statement,  “An Embraer aircraft operated by Associated Airlines with Reg. No. SCD 361 en-route Akure from MMA, Lagos, crashed shortly after take-off at about 9.30am local time.

“The plane had 20 passengers and seven crew members on board.  The majority of the people on the ill-fated aircraft have been accounted for. However, rescue operations continue to look for one soul, who was on board the plane and who is still missing.

“Emergency rescue operations commenced immediately by a combined team of Fire Service and security personnel.  We can confirm that there were six survivors on the aircraft. Four are in a stable condition while two are critical. All are receiving full medical attention in the hospital.”

 But   a commissioner in the AIB,   Shehu Usman, said  at a news conference in Abuja, that 20 persons and not 27 were on board the ill-fated flight.

Usman said, “There were 20 people on board.Thirteen of them were passengers and seven  were crew members, which included two pilots, two cabin crew members and engineers.

“The plane had a 30-seat capacity. From four survivors which we had initially, we now have six survivors.”

He added that the bureau would  not “ release the names of the casualties or the hospitals where they are until we have contacted the families involved.”

Usman, who also said that rescue operations at  the scene of the accident ended at about 11.50am, also declined to give the age of the  Brazilian made Embraer aircraft.

The General Manager, Corporate Communications, FAAN, Mr. Yakubu Dati, who spoke at the scene of the crash, said, “We confirmed today(Thursday) the crash of an Embraer 120 belonging to Associated Airlines near JUHA premises of the MMIA. The propeller aircraft marked 5N-BJY crashed around 0932hrs on its way to Akure with 20 passengers on board .

“The rescue operation commenced immediately with all the relevant  agencies moving en masse to the crash site. The Black Boxes of the aircraft have been recovered. Some of the survivors are already receiving treatment at the hospital while rescue operation is still in progress. An emergency response centre has been set up at the NCAA medical conference room.”