Nigerian air crash kills all 117 on board

LISSA, Nigeria, Monday (Reuters) All 117 people on board a Nigerian airliner died when the Boeing 737 crashed and disintegrated in flames shortly after take-off from Lagos airport, the government confirmed on Sunday.

Dismembered and burned body parts, fuselage fragments and engine parts were strewn over an area the size of a football field near the village of Lissa, about 30 km (20 miles) north of Lagos.

"The Federal Government announces with regret the unfortunate air crash of Bellview Airlines ... which resulted in the loss of life of all passengers and crew on board," a government statement released late on Sunday said. A senior police official at the scene said: "The aircraft has crashed and it is a total loss. We can't even see a whole human body."

A wig, human intestines, clothes, foam seats and a hand were visible wedged in the sodden earth. A cheque for 948,000 naira ($7,300) from the evangelical Deeper Life church was one of a number of personal papers found in the smouldering wreckage.