Rescuers have been trying to recover bodies from the wreckage of an airliner which crashed into the sea off Benin, west Africa, yesterday, killing 113 people.
The Boeing 727 was carrying many Lebanese passengers heading home for the holidays on Christmas Day. At Beirut city airport, waiting families broke down with grief as news of the disaster broke.
22 people are reported to have survived the crash, including a three-year old child. 26 of the 151 passengers and 10 crew members are still unaccounted for.
Through the night, rescuers worked with steel cords and a tractor to try and lift large sections of the plane's wreckage from the shallow waters where the airliner crashed just moments after takeoff from the main city Cotonou on Thursday.
Rescue efforts were halted temporarily after daylight because of high seas, which complicated the work of navy divers.
The beach was strewn with battered suitcases, pieces of twisted metal and other debris, including a baby's bottle. Rescuers gathered watches, wallets and other valuables belonging to the victims.
The accident is reported to have happened at takeoff.
Airport officials said the plane had difficulty retracting its undercarriage after takeoff, clipped a building at the end of the runway, burst into flames and then crashed into the sea.
Lebanon's government sent a plane to Benin to pick up bodies and survivors but it was unable to land at Cotonou this morning because of damage caused by the crash.
Yesterday's crash is the third this year in Africa in which planes have plunged to the ground shortly after takeoff.
It was not immediately known how many people were on flight UTA 141, which could carry 141 passengers and crew. Most of those on board were Lebanese but some were from Benin, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
The flight originated in Conakry, Guinea and picked up passengers in Freetown, Sierra Leone and Cotonou before heading on its way to Beirut.
