Nigeria’s aviation authorities have finally confirmed this morning’s plane crash in the country’s commercial hub, Lagos, and given an idea of the casualty figure.

About 20 people are said to be on board the flight when it suffered engine failure shortly after takeoff in Lagos, crash-landing near an airport fuel depot and killing at least eight people.

The Associated Airlines charter flight took off at roughly 9:30 am (0830 GMT) from the domestic terminal at Lagos’ Murtala Mohammed International Airport.

Supo Atobatele, spokesman for the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, told AFP: “It was going to Akure (in the southwest). The engine failed on takeoff and it crash-landed and burst into flames.”

On his part, Ibrahim Farinloye of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) told AFP that “eight bodies” had been recovered so far, with another person being treated for serious injuries.

“The rescue operation is still on,” he said, with NEMA staff searching the wreckage of the charter flight for potential survivors.

Yakubu Datti, spokesman of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), had had earlier said that five of the passengers had been rescued and taken to the hospital.

The charted plane was said to be heading for Akure, the Ondo State capital, with the remains of Dr. Olusegun Agagu, a former governor of Ondo State, who died on September 13 and is scheduled to be buried this weekend. Emergency operations are still on-going.