Associated Airlines Plane Crashes at Murtala Muhammad Airport [UPDATE]

An aircraft belonging to Associated Airline has crashed at the domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammad Airport (MMA2) in Lagos.

The plane said to have been carrying 20 passengers to Akure from Lagos Thursday morning, crashed immediately after take off on the joint users fuel hydrant, which supplies aviation fuel to airline operators.

UPDATE: Under the cut:

It has been difficult to ascertain the number of casualties, but according to THISDAY when the plane crashed it was engulfed in fire and that nobody may have survived the crash.

It also believed that most of the passengers on board were on their way to burial of the former Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Agagu.

UPDATE:

The number of people killed in a plane crash in Lagos has increased up to 17, two children among them. The plane carrying 27 people and conveying the body of the former Ondo State governor, Olusegun Agagu, crashed this morning at the Murtala Muhammed airport in Lagos immediately after take-off.

Officials said the plane crashed on to open land within the airport complex close to a fuel storage a minute after take-off.

Spokesperson of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, Yakubu Datti, told Al Jazeera that there are five survivors. They have been rushed to a nearby hospital, he added.

Datti confirmed that the Black Box of the aircraft have been recovered and investigation will commence immediately.

One of the eyewitnesses, Ahmad Safian, told the BBC: “I heard a loud bang and then there was lots of black smoke. The security forces rushed straight to the scene. I saw three bodies removed from the wreckage.”

He also said the road to the airport was blocked for a short time but operations were continuing as normal at the airport.

On board the ill-fated aircraft were Agagu’s only son, Feyi, the Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Mr Deji Falae and a staff in the Protocol Department of the Governor’s office, Mr Layi Daji. Also on board were MrTunji Okusanja Jr and his father, Tunji Okusanja.

However Okusanja senior is said to have sustained injuries and unconscious, his son is believed to have been among those who died. The Okusanja family owns the MIC Caskets, a popular funeral undertakers in Lagos Island. An employee of MIC Caskets, identified as Chijioke, was also among the perished.

The management of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) has released the names of some survivors and dead persons:

1. Agagu Feyi – Survivor

2. Akintunde Taiwo – Survivor

3. Akintunde Akeem – Survivor

4. Akinsanya Femi – Survivor

5. Unknown male – Survivor

6. Chijioke Duru – Dead

7. Unknown male adult – Dead