DANA AIR CRASH: Six Chinese on board as Dana officials says We were forced to fly the faulty plane" 62 bodies recovered

China said on Monday that six of its nationals were aboard a plane that crashed into a residential area of the  city of Lagos  with all 153 people on board presumed dead.

The Chinese embassy in Nigeria said it had been told by local authorities that six of its citizens were aboard the Dana Air Boeing MD83 plane that plunged into a densely populated area of Lagos on Sunday.

“The embassy has managed to contact the family of the six Chinese citizens after using various channels,” the embassy said on its website, but did not give any further details.

The cause of the crash is unclear and a search-and-rescue mission is still underway, but officials have said all those aboard the plane are presumed dead as no survivors have been found.

A number of people on the ground are also believed to have been killed in the crash, which created an inferno at the scene and badly damaged buildings.

 Read PHOTO:Cabin crew on board @ the DANA Airline Plane...

At least 62 bodies recovered from plane crash site

 Rescue workers have so far pulled at least 62 bodies from the wreckage of a plane that crashed in Lagos, an official said as searches pressed on Monday at the site of the devastation.

Two cranes arrived early Monday to clear debris and allow rescue workers better access to the densely populated area near the airport where the Dana Air plane crashed on Sunday, with the 153 people on board presumed dead.

“Sixty-two bodies recovered so far,” the rescue official said on condition of anonymity.

A few thousand onlookers gathered at the site, where a church, a two-storey residential building and a printing shop were badly damaged. The number of those killed on the ground remained unclear.

Smoke was still rising from the scene and water trucks were also brought in to douse the smouldering wreckage.

“We were lucky. We just finished our church service when this thing happened,” one resident at the scene on Monday morning said.

One woman, who said that her uncle had been aboard the plane, asked rescue workers if she could have access to the site, but they refused, saying the bodies were unrecognisable.