By JON GAMBRELL
By JON GAMBRELL
Associated Press
LAGOS, Nigeria — Police dogs sniffed for dead bodies Monday in the rubble of buildings destroyed when an airliner crashed into them, killing all 153 aboard, as cranes lifted away heavy pieces of debris in the grisly aftermath of Nigeria’s worst air disaster in nearly two decades.
Rescue officials said they fear many more people may have perished on the ground. The airline involved said an investigation had begun into the cause of Sunday’s crash.
A Nigeria Red Cross report said 110 bodies had been recovered, with more being dug out from the rubble. A U.S. official said American citizens had been aboard the flight.
The pilots reported engine trouble before the plane fell out of the sky on a clear afternoon, smashing into businesses and crowded apartment buildings near Lagos’ Murtala Muhammed International Airport. The flight was bound for Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial center, from Abuja, the capital. Two years ago, the same MD-83 lost engine power due to a bird strike, according to an aviation database.
“The fear is that since it happened in a residential area, there may have been many people killed,” said Yushau Shuaib, a spokesman for Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency.
Overnight, officials brought in a large crane from a local construction company to lift the tail of the aircraft and other debris, and brought blow torches to cut through the aircraft wreckage. The debris still smoldered Monday morning. Some emergency workers wore masks to try and protect themselves from the stench of the dead.