ABUJA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Fifteen more bodies were recovered on Tuesday at the crash site of the aircraft that crashed in southwestern Lagos State on Sunday, bringing the total number of corpses so far recovered to 152, according to authorities of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).
Spokesperson of the FRSC Jonas Agwu officially confirmed the figure to reporters, saying the bodies were recovered during a joint sustained evacuation exercise carried out by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and other relevant agencies in the West African country.
He gave the breakdown of the bodies so far recovered to include 88 males, 48 females, 14 children and two unidentified mutilated adults.
Earlier, a rescue official told Xinhua that search and rescue operations at the crash site began quite late on Tuesday due to a heavy downpour in the Lagos metropolis.
The ill-fated plane, which took off on Sunday from Nigeria's capital Abuja, crashed into a residential area of Lagos, killing all 153 persons on board. A number of people on land, believed to be residents of the area, also perished in the mishap.
A total of 137 bodies were recovered from the crash site as at 7 p.m. local time on Monday, when the rescue officials closed work for the day, according to NEMA spokesperson Yushau Shuaib.
Owners of the ill-fated commercial plane said earlier Tuesday that the airline company would do everything possible to assist families who lost dear ones in the air mishap.
In a statement made available to Xinhua, the airline regretted the accident and expressed deepest sympathies to the families and friends of the deceased, adding that a 24-hour call center service has been initiated alongside an information center set up at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos to look after their needs and keep them as quickly informed as possible.
"An investigation into the cause of the accident got underway immediately (after the air crash), under the guidance of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), who is being assisted by investigators from the U.S. National Safety Transportation Board (NTSB). Dana Air is cooperating fully and assisting the investigation in every possible way," the airline company said.
The aircraft, with registration number 5N-RAM, departed Nigeria's capital Abuja for Lagos on Sunday afternoon with 146 passengers on board, according to information provided by the airline.
The company added one of its engineers, two pilots and four cabin crew members were also aboard the flight, making a total of 153 persons the ill-fated plane transported until it crashed into a two-storey building in a densely populated part of Lagos.
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