Americans Among Nigeria Crash Dead

Officials face 'messy' slog to find victims
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 5, 2012 10:34 AM CDT
Americans Among Nigeria Crash Dead
Family members look at a photograph published in a newspaper of Shehu Sahad, who died in a plane crash, as they wait to identified his body in Lagos, Nigeria, Tuesday, June 5, 2012.   (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

As the dust settles on Nigeria's devastating plane crash, victims' identities are emerging, and so far, they include at least eight US residents. A Connecticut family was on board, as were two Houston-area sisters. Four Chinese citizens, a Canadian, a French citizen, and a pair of Lebanese nationals have also been identified, but officials have a long way to go as victims' families pour into a Lagos morgue—particularly in the face of heavy winds and rain at the crash site.

Officials are also concerned that a three-story apartment building nearby could crumble after having been hit by the plane. "It's going to be messy," says a Nigerian emergency official. Some 150 bodies have been recovered so far, among them a mother holding a baby, the AP reports. Meanwhile, details on the killed Americans are emerging in local papers, via NPR: The Connecticut dad was Nigerian, and the couple's four kids were all younger than four. The Texas sisters were both in their twenties; one was an engineer, the other an accountant, according to the Houston Chronicle. Both families were en route to Nigerian weddings. (More Nigeria stories.)

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