96 confirmed dead in Benin crash

Rescue teams were searching the sea off the West African nation of Benin today in a desperate hunt for survivors of a plane crash that killed at least 96 people, authorities said.

Transport Minister Ahmed Akobi said 82 people died in Thursday’s crash, and state radio confirmed 10 more bodies were pulled from the wreckage off the Atlantic Ocean coast overnight.

Most of the casualties were Lebanese headed home for Christmas holidays.

The plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean after taking off from the airport at the commercial capital of Benin, Cotonou.

The Boeing 727 had hit a building at the end of the runway. There was fire and an explosion before the plane went into the ocean, witnesses said.

At least 24 people initially survived the accident, Akobi said. But four of those died at hospitals in Cotonou, state radio said.

With spotlights perched on the beach and flashlights in hand, divers and fishermen searched for survivors through the night, swimming through scattered pieces of luggage, clothes and gift-wrapped presents.

Tractors tied chains to parts of the Boeing 727’s wreckage, including an engine, in an effort to clear away the wreckage.

By dawn, the bulk of the destroyed aircraft still lay in the water, some 100 metres (yards) from the beach.

It was unclear exactly how many people were aboard the chartered aircraft. Akobi said the plane’s manifest listed 156 passengers and an unknown number of crew.

Before dawn, about 50 Lebanese nationals gathered along the shore, crowding around bodies – pulled from the water one by one – to identify friends or relatives.

“This is all too much for me to handle,” said Akim Toufik.

The death toll could rise as rescue work continued.

An Associated Press reporter saw at least 15 bodies and the plane’s severed cockpit lay on the beach after midnight.

There was no word on what caused the tragedy. Akobi said rescue teams were searching for the aircraft’s black box, but it had not been found.

The Boeing lifted off on a sunny Thursday at 2:55pm from the airport in Cotonou, and troubles began right away, said Jerome Dandjinou, a senior airport security official.

“The back of the plane hit a building at the end of the runway. There was a fire and an explosion was heard,” Dandjinou told The Associated Press.

“The plane exploded and the debris fell into the water.” The Atlantic Ocean is about 500 metres from airport tarmac.

The flight originated in the Guinean capital, Conakry, and stopped in Freetown, Sierra Leone, picking up Lebanese along the way. It was bound for Beirut, Lebanese Transportation Minister Najib Mikati said.

Authorities shut down Cotonou airport for 24 hours after the crash as a security precaution, Akobi said.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Jean Obeid said it closed because the plane apparently damaged part of the airport’s guidance system.

An AP reporter on the scene on Thursday saw dozens of bodies – men, women, children and babies – floating among the plane’s wreckage about 150 metres (yards) off a Cotonou beach.

Television images showed pieces of the plane lying in the surf: a shorn-off landing gear, part of a wing, the cockpit and the rear part of the fuselage, along with an engine.

A Lebanese survivor, Nabil Hashem, told Al Manar television in Beirut that he was in the back of the plane and was able to swim to safety.

“Those in the front were the most hurt,” Hashem said. ”May God’s mercy fall on them. It was a horrible scene.”

Ghabi Koudieh, a Lebanese expatriate in Cotonou, told Al Manar that 90 bodies were pulled out from the sea.

At least 80 were Lebanese, he said. Other witnesses said there were about 35 Lebanese survivors.

Thousands of Lebanese immigrants work in West African countries. Most of the passengers on Thursday’s flight were believed to be returning home for the Christmas holidays.