Only Seven Survivors Reported

A Nigerian DC-9, flying under the livery of Sosoliso Airlines, went down during a landing attempt Saturday, with 110 persons on board. Some 103 people are currently listed as having perished in the crash leaving only seven known survivors.

The aircraft was in the process of executing a landing in the city of Port Harcourt, a major Nigerian oil exporter, when it impacted off the runway and was consumed by a post-impact fire. The crash comes less than two months after another Nigerian airline accident  which took the lives of 117 people. The aircraft was enroute to Port Harcourt from Abuja.

Nigerian-owned Sosoliso Airlines started business in 1994 and started scheduled domestic service in July of 2000. It is currently serving six cities in Nigeria. 

Nigeria has been the scene of a number of major aviation accidents over the years, including an EAS Airlines crash in 2002 killing 148 (most of them on the ground), an ADC 727 crash in 1996 that killed 142, and 158 people lost in a Nigeria military transport crash in 1192. The Nigerian airline industry suffers from poor spares support, occasionally poor maintenance, aging runway and airport facilities and a lack of appropriate financing.

FMI: http://www.sosolisoairline.com