People gather at the site of a plane crash 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)

He said a team of mobile and conventional police and rescue workers, including the National Emergency Management Agency, were on the ground to evacuate victims of the incident.

"Military helicopters have also been hovering around the area to provide security," the Xinhua staff added.

He witnessed dead bodies being evacuated from inside the building, while the fire fighters, who arrived quite late, could not extinguish the inferno as they ran out of water.

Security personnel deployed in the area also had difficulty in controlling the large crowd of sympathizers around the building.

Ganiu Afolabi, a resident in the area, told Xinhua that there was palpable fear that the building may collapse soon, due to wild fire.

"It is obvious that the building is now weak and we just pray it doesn't fall off because the fire cannot be quenched," he said.

The government made a quick response to the incident shocking the nation. While mourning over the deaths, the Nigerian president decided to cancel all his public engagements scheduled for Monday.

He has also ordered the fullest possible investigation into the accident.

A statement from his office said Minister of Aviation Stella Oduah has already left Abuja for Lagos to oversee the crash probe and is expected to present an interim report to the federal government as quickly as possible.

The Nigerian leader assures air travelers that every possible effort will be made to ensure that the right lessons are learnt from the tragic loss of valuable lives in Sunday's plane crash and that further measures will be put in place to boost aviation safety in the country.