KANO, Nigeria (AP) — A Nigerian airliner with 76 people aboard tore a three-block swath through mosques and concrete homes in the northern city of Kano yesterday, scattering charred corpses and blood-and-soot covered plane seats through a terrified working-class neighbourhood.

At least two people on board survived, aviation authorities said — one, a passenger who rose from his seat amid the wreckage and staggered away.

The other known survivor was a female crew member, said John Okasor, a spokesman for Nigeria’s federal airport authority.

There was no firm word on overall casualties. The crash killed at least one neighbourhood resident — a baby girl. Her partly burned body was carried from the scene in a yellow rug as her weeping mother walked alongside.

Associated Press reporters on the scene soon after the crash saw wailing, screaming people carrying bodies from among the plane’s shattered parts and the ruins of dozens of buildings.

Residents said the plane tore along at roof level for blocks, shearing off tin roofs and top stories of modest concrete homes before hitting the ground and exploding.

“It was turning and wobbling,” resident Umar Suleman told The Associated Press. “It came down and I thought it was going to hit the mosque, but it looked like it went just past it, and then it hit the houses.”

“And after that, everyone was running and screaming,” he said.

The plane clipped the minaret of one mosque and smashed full force into a second mosque.

Residents feared for anyone who may have been inside praying in this city in heavily Islamic northern Nigeria.

The tail of the plane jutted out of one man’s house. An engine part lay in the middle of a street on top of a dead goat. Plane seats covered with gore and soot lay scattered.

Suleman said one man was found still in his seat in the wreckage, blood covering his forehead. Residents helped the shocked man walk away.

Okasor, the airport authority spokesman, confirmed that at least one male passenger had survived.

Thousands of Nigerians crowded the ruined neighbourhood, crying out in the still-smoldering rubble each time a body was found.

Young men carried each body out on their shoulders, crying, “God is Great”.

Initial reports on private radio said there were 105 people on board. Okasor put the number at 76, including crew members.

The plane belonged to Nigeria’s private EAS Airlines, one of more than a dozen independent carriers operating within the West African country. The British Aerospace twin-engine jet had room for 96 passengers.

The plane had taken off from Kano for Nigeria’s commercial capital of Lagos, 700 kilometers (435 miles) to the south, Okasor said.

The aircraft crashed at 1:30 pm (1330 GMT) about 800 metres (a half mile) from the airport.

Aviation authorities said they were searching for the plane’s black box, hoping for clues to the crash.

Nigeria’s heavily competitive domestic carriers have been locked in a price war in recent months. Some Nigerians have feared maintenance would suffer as a result.

Overall, however, despite having a number of old planes, the local airlines have not had a major crash since the mid-1990s.

Kano State Governor Rabiu Isa Kwankwaso visited the crash site late yesterday, adding to confusion at the scene, as distraught residents pushed to talk to him and were pushed back by security.

Shocked survivors on the ground pawed slowly through concrete shards and a whirl of scattered belongings as night neared.

Ibrahim Amadou, 60, said he had been at home reading the Quran, Islam’s holy book, when the tail of the plane shattered the corner of his house.

For frightened minutes after, he said, “I was just praying to God, praying that all should be as it should.”