=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/n/a/2005/12/13/internatio= nal/i074319S21.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, December 13, 2005 (AP) Nigerian President Grounds Two Airlines By BASHIR ADIGUN, Associated Press Writer (12-13) 08:45 PST ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) -- President Olusegun Obasanjo grounded two private Nigerian airlines Tuesd= ay after two deadly plane crashes killed 224 people in a span of seven weeks. He also announced a review of all aircraft flying in Nigeria, saying two experts from the International Civil Aviation Organization would be brought in "to ensure the integrity of the inspection." One of the carriers grounded, Sosoliso Airlines, operated the 32-year-old McDonnell Douglas DC-9 that crashed Saturday in the southern city of Port Harcourt, killing 107 people, most of them schoolchildren heading home for the holidays. The plane's previous owner, Serbia's JAT Airways, said it did not meet European standards. The second, Chanchangi Airlines, operated a plane that skidded off the runway in the main city of Lagos earlier this year and another craft that developed problems shortly after taking off from Abuja earlier this month and had to return to the capital. President Obasanjo announced the groundings after meeting with airline carriers and government regulators to discuss public concern over Nigeria's aviation industry. "People are asking when will this stop? How will this stop?" Obasanjo to= ld representatives of local and international airlines gathered with government and emergency officials in the capital, Abuja. "And we have to answer these questions." Obasanjo on Monday ousted two senior officials in Nigeria's aviation ministry. On Oct. 22, a passenger jet crashed shortly after taking off from the ma= in city of Lagos, killing all 117 people on board. There has been little indication of what could have caused the crash. That plane's carrier, privately owned Bellview Airlines, was not grounded Tuesday. Aviation Minister Babalola Borishade told meeting participants that flig= ht facilities in the country have long been in decay. Despite great oil riches as one of the world's top petroleum producers, wasteful and corrupt rule by military juntas has left much of Nigeria's public infrastructure in tatters. Obasanjo, elected in 1999 to end military rule, has vowed to weed out official corruption. Serbia's state-owned JAT, which in 2002 sold the DC-9 that crashed Saturday to Sosoliso, said Monday that the craft was built in 1973 and did not meet European standards when it was sold, due to loud noise levels produced by the jet's two engines. Sosoliso's managing director, Oscar Ikwuemesi, however, insisted that the company's aircraft were safe. It was the first accident recorded by Sosoliso, which was established in 1994 and began domestic flights in 2000. The airline now flies to six Nigerian cities. Saturday's flight took off from the capital, Abuja, and crashed as it tried to land in Port Harcourt. Three people survived. Among those onboard were 71 teenagers from a Catholic boarding school in Abuja, heading home for the Christmas holidays. Obasanjo visited their school in Abuja on Monday, singing hymns with the few teachers and students remaining behind during the holiday break. One grieving mother, Valentina Chigbo, sat Monday at the front of the mortuary at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, where she had come to identify the remains of her daughter, Chinenye. The 16-year-old had been planning to take her final school exams in January. "I just feel like part of my life is gone. She was my only child, she was the center of everything in my life," said Chigbo, among a crowd of about 50 relatives and friends of the victims. One man, Daniel Ilabor, said he had lost all three of his children ̵= 2; a boy and two girls. "This is the saddest day of my life. Now I have nobody to call me Daddy," he said at his home in Port Harcourt. ___ Associated Press writer Daniel Balint-Kurti in Port Harcourt contributed to this report. -----------------------------------------------------------= ----------- Copyright 2005 AP