At least four people were killed and six wounded when a helicopter returning from an oil rig plunged into a lagoon in Nigeria's commercial hub Lagos Wednesday.
The Sikorsky helicopter, operated by the U.S.-based Bristow Group, came down behind a police station in the Oworonshoki area in the city's north, according to the National Emergency Management Agency. Two people were still missing.
Full StoryA Lebanese man has been arrested in the airport of the Nigerian city of Lagos for trying to smuggle drugs to Lebanon in his boxer shorts, the head of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said Wednesday.
Yves Awad, 23, was apprehended by officials of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) with about 260 grams of cocaine at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport.
Full StorySouthern Chile remained on alert Friday for another eruption from the Calbuco volcano after it burst into life in spectacular, fiery fashion for the first time in half a century, forcing 5,000 people to evacuate and lighting up the night sky.
Authorities declared a state of emergency, sent in the army and evacuated a 21-kilometer (13-mile) radius around the volcano after the twin eruptions -- the first on Wednesday as night fell and the second early Thursday before sunrise.
Full StoryForeign Minister Jebran Bassil said on Wednesday on the last leg of his tour to West Africa that the Lebanese officials should end their disputes and resolve the problems of Lebanese expatriates.
“We should work hand in hand and put our political and sectarian differences aside, in particular when we talk about the issue of Lebanese expats,” said Bassil during a ceremony held in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial hub.
Full StoryA pathologist on Tuesday ruled out claims of an explosion as the cause of a fatal building collapse at the church of a popular Nigerian preacher, saying none of the victims had blast injuries.
"Bodies were mutilated, severe crush, head injuries, fractured bones, fractured ribs," Lagos state chief medical examiner Professor John Obafunwa told a coroner's inquest in the city.
Full StoryA coroner's inquest was opened and adjourned in Nigeria on Monday into the deaths of scores of people who were killed at the church of a popular evangelical preacher and televangelist.
Coroner Oyetade Komolafe told the hearing in Lagos that more time was needed to enable all parties to prepare evidence and present witnesses.
Full StoryAn Air France aircraft, with 178 people aboard, made an emergency landing at Lagos's international airport Sunday after a faulty indicator showed a nose tyre pressure fault, an official statement said.
"The aircraft, which had a total of 178 souls on board with 168 passengers and 10 crew, landed safely," the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) said in the statement.
Full StoryA passenger boat sank after hitting a rock in Lagos, killing eight people, the Nigerian emergency services said Thursday, in the latest such accident in three weeks.
"The boat capsized after hitting a rock ... around 6:00 pm (17:00 GMT) yesterday," Ibrahim Farinloye of the National Emergency Management Agency told Agence France Presse.
Full StoryAn overloaded passenger boat capsized in Nigeria's largest city of Lagos, killing 13 people, two of them children, the emergency services said Wednesday.
"The accident occurred around 7.45pm (1845 GMT) on Tuesday in (the neighborhood of) Festac Town when a wooden boat with some 20 passengers capsized," Ibrahim Farinloye of the National Emergency Management Agency told Agence France Presse.
Full StoryFifteen people were killed in Nigeria's financial hub Lagos when a tanker loaded with fuel overturned and burst into flames, a rescue agency said on Wednesday.
National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) spokesman Ibrahim Farinloye told Agence France Presse initially that nine people had died in the accident, which happened just before midnight (2300 GMT) on Tuesday.
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