2 Indians among those killed in Nigeria crash

Rains hampered rescue effort at the devastated site of an air tragedy in Nigeria today as emergency workers looked for more bodies through the rubble, even as it emerged that two Indians were among the 153 people on the ill-fated flight that crashed following engine failure.

Rescuers have recovered 137 bodies from the site of the crash, in which the toll is expected to mount to up to 200. Just before going down near the airport, the pilot of the flight had reported to the control tower that both of its engines had failed, according to Nigeria's civil aviation chief.

Director of Nigeria's Civil Aviation Authority Harold Demureen said that there was confusion at the airport before it was learnt that the aircraft had crashed. But Dana Airline, the owners of the aircraft with registration number 5N-RAM, said despite being 22-years-old the plane was still serviceable and operational.

A 26-year-old Indian engineer from Kerala named Rijo K Eldhose was also on the plane and the company for which he worked said they were making efforts to identify his body. The High Commission of India in Lagos, Rani Malik, confirmed today that "one Indian passenger Rijo Kochukudiyil Eldohose lost his life" in the tragedy.

Eldhose was on his way to Lagos from the Nigerian capital Abuja to attend a conference when the plane crashed. Redington Nigeria Limited, the company with which Eldos was involved, said today they were yet to find his corpse among the bodies at the Ikeja General Hospital.

"We were told all of us to come today by 2 pm," said Vadis Oommen, an official of the company. Malik said the co-pilot of the plane, Mahendra Singh Rathore, is not a citizen of India but appears to be an American of Indian origin.