KANO (Nigeria), May 4: A Nigerian airliner crashed into a densely populated district of the northern city of Kano on Saturday, killing at least 116 people, including 40 on the ground, aviation officials said.

The airliner, bound for the commercial capital Lagos, crashed as it took off from Kano’s airport, ploughing into shacks and a mosque and starting a number of fires, the officials said.

“There were 69 passengers and seven crew members on board,” an official of the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria said.

“All passengers and crew are feared dead,” he added.

A fire service official said dozens of people were killed in their homes when the twin-engined BAC 1-11-500, operated by EAS Airlines, crashed into the impoverished residential district of Gwammaja.

“Ten buildings were hit by the plane. As of now the bodies of about 40 people have been recovered from the houses,” he said.

The aviation official said the plane had stopped over in Kano on a flight from the central city of Jos. Airport officials said earlier it crashed as it came in to land from Jos.

Poorly equipped fire crews and other emergency workers battled flames and thick smoke from the smashed buildings, which included a school. A christening ceremony was taking place in one of the houses when the plane ploughed through it, witnesses said.—Reuters