Crash victims given mass burial

Unidentified victims of the plane crash in Nigeria's northern city of Kano were given a mass burial at the city cemetery on Monday, officials said. Out of 149 people confirmed dead, after the jet airliner on a domestic flight plunged into a residential neighbourhood shortly after take-off on Saturday, 56 bodies were unclaimed, Adamu Mohammed, a Kano State official said. "We had to bury them quickly as they were deteriorating fast," he told IRIN. A total of 79 passengers and crew were aboard the EAS Airline BAC-1-11-500 aircraft on a scheduled flight to Lagos. Four passengers survived, but 74 people were killed on the ground, according to figures released by the Nigerian Red Cross. A total of 148 bodies were recovered on Sunday. But Red Cross spokesman Patrick Bawa said one more body was retrieved from the crash site on Monday when the recovery effort had ended. President Olusegun Obasanjo visited the crash site early on Monday and restated his pledge to ensure a thorough investigation of the accident. He said victims would be paid compensation and announced that 10 million naira (US $86,206) had been set aside to provide emergency assistance.