The wreckage of the crashed plane is seen near the Lagos airport in Nigeria, June 3, 2012. A passenger plane carrying 153 people crashed into a two-storey building in Nigeria's southwestern Lagos State on Sunday, killing all the people on board and 40 others on the ground. At least four Chinese were among the passengers, the Chinese Embassy in the West African country has confirmed. (Xinhua/Ezekiel Taiwo)

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan declared three days of national mourning after one of the West African country's worst plane crashes killed at least 193 people in the economic capital Lagos on Sunday.

The Nigerian leader has directed that the Nigerian flag be flown at half-mast for national mourning.

A Dana Air plane from Nigeria's capital city Abuja crashed in a residential area in the Lagos metropolis, killing the 153 people on board and 40 others living inside a two-story building hit by the aircraft, according to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

The victims include at least four Chinese passengers, the Chinese Embassy in Africa's most populous country told Xinhua.

The NCAA confirmed the air crash barely 24 hours after a Nigerian Allied Cargo airplane from Lagos crash-landed in Ghana, killing at least 10 people.

A Xinhua reporter at the crash site said more than 40 people living in the two-story building, each having six flats, were entrapped inside after the crash.

A wild inferno engulfed the building and proved hard to be put off by fire fighters, according to the Xinhua reporter.

Nigeria opens probe into deadly air crash

Nigeria's aviation authority on Sunday announced the start of an investigation into the crash of a passenger airplane which killed nearly 200 people.

Speaking to reporters here, Harold Demuren, director general of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), said that the investigation into the air crash has begun.

"We don't believe there are survivors," he said, adding that the flight originated from Nigeria's capital city Abuja.

Plane crash in Nigeria kills all 147 on board

People gather near the engine of a plane, after it crashed into a neighbourhood in Ishaga disrict, an outskirt of Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos June 3, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

A passenger plane crashed into a densely populated part of Lagos, Nigeria's commercial hub, on Sunday, killing all 147 people on board, the airline said.

6 Chinese among Nigerian plane crash victims

At least six Chinese were among the 153 people on board a passenger plane which crashed near the Lagos airport in Nigeria on Sunday, the Chinese Embassy in the West African country has confirmed.

Nigeria's president declares 3-day mourning for plane crash victims

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday declared three days of national mourning for those who lost their lives in an ill-fated commercial airplane crash in southwestern Lagos State, according to a statement from his office.

Cargo plane crashes in Ghana, killing at least 10

Rescuers work at the site of plane crash in Accra, Ghana, June 2, 2012. A cargo plane crashed outside the El Wak Stadium, less than 10 km from the Accra airport in the capital of Ghana, around 8 pm local time on Saturday. Local television said 15 bodies were pulled out of the severely damaged bus which was beside the plane wreckage. (Xinhua/Shao Haijun)

A cargo plane crashed in Ghana's capital Accra on Saturday evening and slammed into a minivan loaded with passengers, killing at least 10 people, airport officials said.