Crowds are massing at a filling station on the outskirts of Lagos, South-West Nigeria, to see for themselves a plane whose ownership and how it happened to find its way to the place could not yet be ascertained.

Residents woke up this morning to find the light plane with registration number N972TF at Dapsey filling station along the Lagos State University (LASU) - Iba Road close to Igando but none of those living in the Iba and Igando axis reported hearing any sound of plane distress all through the night.

“Residents and a detachment of policemen were seen milling around the filling station to get a glimpse of the unusual sight. Itcould not beascertainedif the plane actually fell as is being speculated among some media outlets this morningas residents said there was no sound in the night to pin the incident to a plane that fell,” the blog NigerianCurrent.

A policeman among a detachment at the scene was quoted as saying: “We also saw it the way you have seen it. It was not here as at10pm yesternight when our men patrolled this same area. It is a mystery to everybody.

Mr. Johnson Akabue, who said he lives two streets away from the filling station, said nobody in the community – not even the vigilante that guarded the area – could ascertain how the plane got there. Akabuesaid he was not sure there was crash but suspected the plane might have beentowed there.

Apart from a chopped off wing on the right side of the plane, there were no other bruises on the plane nor was the chopped off section within the vicinity of the filling station.

“None of the filling station attendants nor the manager was available for comments as the police cordoned off the area from curious lookers that had converged to take shots. As at9amtraffic had started building on the road thus fuelling more confusion,” says NigerianCurrent.

A social commentator, Mr. Arogundade Timilehin speculated that the plane may have been one of the junks laying abandoned at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport that may have been on its way to canibalisation and so its transportation may have been in the night to avoid attention. According to him, “It may have been abandoned here due to what only the handlers know. However, it is a shame on the police that they could not determine the exact time it happened.”

Nigeria’s aviation agencies are yet to either visit the site or comment on the incident.

•Photos, courtesy NigerianCurrent, shows the mystery plane.