In an effort to raise awareness for educational and enlightenment purposes, WITHIN NIGERIA recognizes a significant event that happened on May 4 in our country, Nigeria.
On this day, May 4 in 2002, an EAS Airline plane crashed into the town of Kano which led to the death of 149 people.
According to reports, the Nigerian BAC 1-11-500 aircraft exploded in a densely populated section of the northern Nigerian city.
The Executive Airline Services twin-engine plane took off from Kano at about 1:30 p.m. with 77 people on board headed for Lagos.
Witnesses on the ground saw that the plane immediately showed signs of distress before plunging toward the ground.
It then ripped through a working-class neighborhood, shearing off the roofs of dozens of homes and a couple of mosques. About three full blocks of structures were destroyed.
Many of the victims on the ground were burned to death in the fiery explosion. Six passengers on the plane did manage to survive.
One, Najib Ibrahim, said, ‘I thought I had no chance. I was surrounded by fire. I was lucky because I was sitting near the exit door.’
