A Boeing MD83 Aircraft crashed in Nigeria, killing all 153 People Aboard

A boeing MD83 aircraft crashed in Lagos, the largest Nigerian city on 3 June 2012.  All 153 people on board were killed in the worst air disaster of Nigeria in nearly past two decades. The flight was traveling from Nigeria’s central capital of Abuja to Lagos in the nation’s southwest.

Scores others were killed and injured on the ground where the plane was crashed. President Goodluck Jonathan later declared three days of national mourning in Nigeria. The recent crash is the worst for Nigeria since September 1992, when a military transport plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Lagos, killing nearly 163 army soldiers, relatives and crew members on board.

Nigeria, home to more than 160 million people, is Africa’s most populous nation. The oil-rich nation has long been struggling with widespread state-sponsored corruption and malpractices. Barring past twenty years, the nation has time and again suffered from horrible aviation disasters. In August 2010, the U.S. had given Nigeria the Federal Aviation Administration’s Category 1 status, its top safety rating, which permits the Nigerian’s airliners to have a direct flight to the U.S.