Nigeria's air crash sibling survivors

By Mannir Dan-Ali
BBC News, Abuja

Only nine passengers survived the crash

The wards at Nigeria's National Hospital in the capital, Abuja, are busy with relations and sympathisers anxious to hear about the miraculous survival of nine people in Sunday's airline crash.

Amazingly, three of the lucky nine are sisters.

Ninety-six of the passengers who boarded the ADC flight from Abuja destined for the north-western city of Sokoto, died including the spiritual leader of Nigeria's Muslims, the Sultan of Sokoto.

From their hospital beds some of the survivors, most of whom are women, have been giving harrowing accounts of their ordeal.

President Olusegun Obasanjo himself visited them on Monday to commiserate with those he said were "touched by the special grace of God".

I shouted to my sisters that we were all going to die Survivor Aisha Ilyasu Kaoje

One of them was Aisha Ilyasu Kaoje, a teenage university student and daughter of a state governor, who was travelling with her two sisters.

Prayers

Recuperating in a female ward, Aisha is clearly in pain from her fractures and burns as she lies in bed attached to an intravenous drip - her relations trying to comfort her.

The plane reportedly burst into flames just after take-off

She explains that the plane, which crashed shortly after take-off, was in difficulty before it went down.

"The plane somersaulted and when I looked out the window I saw that the tyre was missing. Before it hit ground the plane was on fire," she says.

"I shouted to my sisters that we were all going to die."

But, Aisha says, one of her sisters told her to pray and all three sisters huddled together as best they could with their seatbelts still on to say their prayers.

"I don't know exactly what happened after the plane crashed - we were shouting for help and still praying."

Then some farmers nearby rushed to their rescue undoing their seatbelts to drag them from the wreckage.

Anxiety

Two days on and Aisha has yet to see her sisters, Jamilah and Zainab, who are receiving treatment elsewhere in the hospital.

Both are reported to be responding well.

Allah has his own ways of making miracles happen. Malam Mahmud Alfa

Zainab's fiance Malam Mahmud Alfa says that at first it was not clear that all three sisters had survived.

"I found out about the crash 30 minutes after take-off.

"When we got back to the airport we got a call from the hospital here that she (Zainab) was alive but they hadn't seen the rest of them," he says, explaining that it was only at the hospital that it was established all the sisters were there.

"We came down here and after an hour and a half I was able to have visual confirmation that she was indeed alive."

Mr Alfa says his fiancee is making good progress despite her multiple fractures.

"She's ok, not in shock. Al-hamdulila (thanks to God) she'll pull through."

"Allah has his own ways of making miracles happen."

For Aisha too, God is never far from her thoughts.

"I will keep praying for those who died and for those that survived," she says.

Other survivors, some of whom were almost unhurt, have left the hospital to join their families.