At least 24 survive plane crash in Africa

COTONOU, Benin - A jetliner clipped a building during takeoff and crashed into the sea off the West African nation of Benin on Thursday, killing at least 82 people - mostly Lebanese on their way home for the holidays, the transport minister said.

At least 24 people survived the crash, Transport Minister Ahmed Akobi said. There were fears the death toll would rise as fishermen and emergency crews scoured the water into the night, with spotlights set up along the beach to help them search for survivors and recover more bodies.

It was unclear how many people were on the chartered Boeing 727 plane. Akobi said there were 156 passengers and an unknown number of crew, while an official with the charter company, UTA, said 253 people were on board.

The flight originated in the Guinean capital, Conakry, and stopped in Freetown, Sierra Leone, picking up Lebanese along the way, and was bound for Beirut, Lebanese Transportation Minister Najib Mikati said.

There was no word on what caused the aircraft to strike the building. Authorities shut down Cotonou airport until Friday as a security precaution, Akobi said.

The Boeing 727 had just lifted off at 2:55 p.m. from the seaside airport in Cotonou, Benin's commercial capital, said Jerome Dandjinou, an airport security official.

"The back of the plane hit a building at the end of the runway. There was a fire and an explosion was heard," Dandjinou said. "The plane exploded and the debris fell into the water."

An Associated Press reporter saw dozens of bodies - men, women, children and babies - floating among the wreckage about 150 yards off a beach.

Television images showed pieces of the plane lying in the surf: shorn-off landing gear, part of a wing, the cockpit and the rear part of the fuselage, along with an engine.

Tangled wires and metal hung from the ripped-open fuselage. One man sat in the sand, blood running down his bare chest. Another injured man held his head.

One of the Lebanese survivors, Nabil Hashem, told Al Manar television in Beirut that he was in the back of the plane and was able to swim to safety.

"Those in the front were the most hurt," Hashem said. "May God's mercy fall on them. It was a horrible scene."

Ghabi Koudieh, a Lebanese expatriate in Cotonou, told Al Manar that 90 bodies were pulled out from the sea. At least 80 were Lebanese, he said. Other witnesses said there were about 35 Lebanese survivors.

Thousands of Lebanese immigrants live and work in West African countries. Most of the passengers on Thursday's flight were believed to be returning home for the Christmas holidays.

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