Only 22 survivors on crashed plane carrying 161

Only 22 people appear to have survived the crash of a heavily loaded jet which had 161 people on board when it crashed shortly after take-off from Cotonou on a flight to Beirut, Benin's Foreign Minister, Rogatien Biaou said on Friday. Biaou told a press conference that the Guinea-registered Boeing 727-200 was carrying 151 passengers and 10 crew when it left Cotonou for Beirut on Thursday afternoon. Most of those on board where members of the Lebanese community in West Africa, he added. Biaou said 113 bodies had so far been recovered from the plane, which had been chartered by UTA, a small Guinea-based airline owned by Lebanese interests. Most of the bodies were pulled from the sea. The remnants of the jet slid into the water after the plane crashed onto a beach 500 metres beyond the end of the runway. But Biaou said two of the dead had pulled alive from the wreckage only to die later in hospital. He spoke alongside Lebanese Foreign Minister Jean Abeid who flew into Cotonou on Friday, accompanied by a team of Lebanese army divers. These were joined in their search for the remaining bodies by French army divers from the French military base at Lome in neighbouring Togo. The ill-fated plane began began its journey in the Guinean capital Conakry and stopped in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and Cotonou to pick up passengers. It was due to fly on to Beirut and Dubai. However, the aircraft hit a building and crashed seconds after taking off from Cotonou, where 63 passengers boarded the flight.