Nigerian photojournalist Abayomi Adeshida, 35, describes what he saw at the crash site of the ADC airlines which came down in a storm shortly after taking off from the capital, Abuja.
I got to the site at about 1430 local time, by which time the survivors had already been moved to the National Hospital in Abuja.
A short while ago, two guys from the hospital came on national TV to say that of the seven survivors, six were stable but that one was in a critical condition.
The national emergency management agency had already arrived.
They had brought in helicopters to move the bodies of the victims as the crash site is inaccessible to cars – I had to walk for about 15 minutes off the tarmac runway at Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport.
Scattered toys
They were using motorised saws to cut through the aircraft and remove the bodies.
The ground was covered with the victim’s charred bodies, shoes, headscarves, cell phones, books, toys and what was left of the plane.
The tail of the aircraft was still attached to part of the plane body but the wings had come apart.
The charred victim’s bodies and remains were then taken to the airport where they were then ferried to the mortuary.
Tremendous help
I was told that there had been 109 people on board the ADC airlines flight travelling to the northern city of Sokoto.
Villagers close to where the plane crash-landed said that they had heard two loud bangs from the aircraft before an even louder third explosion – when the weekly Sunday Sokoto-bound flight impacted with the ground.
They were very tremendous with their help, considering the seriousness of the accident, assisting the few survivors and helping to make respectable and give dignity to the bodies of the victims that had escaped the flames but had all their clothes torn.
The Sultan of Sokoto Mohammadu Maccido was recovered along with the remains of his son and grandson.
They were flown to Sokoto where they were buried before sunset.