Sunday, December 11 2005 09:59 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Lagos: A Nigerian jetliner carrying 110 passengers and crew crashed yesterday (Dec 11, 2005) as it approached a southern city in stormy weather, killing 103 people. Seven people survived, officials said.

The Sosoliso Airlines DC-9 from Abuja went down as it approached Port Harcourt, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Sam Adurogboye said.

An airport worker described a horrific scene: "The place where I'm standing now is scattered with corpses. The dead, many of them burned beyond recognition, were being evacuated to mortuaries," he said, refusing to give his name.

He said the plane shattered into pieces upon impact.

Adurogboye said seven people were rescued and taken to the hospital. "They were breathing and were taken to hospital. They are responding to treatment."

He did not say if they were passengers or crew members.

The cause of the crash was unclear. But Nigerian airports have come under criticism in recent months following a string of near-misses, including one at Port Harcourt in which an Air France passenger jet crashed into a herd of cows on the runway.

International airlines briefly suspended flights at Lagos' international airport because of holes in the runway.

In October, an Abuja-bound Boeing 737-200 crashed after taking off from the airport at Lagos, Nigeria's biggest city, killing 117 people on board the Bellview Airlines flight.