Panafrican News Agency

Queen Elizabeth, Austrian govt. condole with Nigeria over plane crash

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Queen Elizabeth II of England has sent a condolence letter to President Goodluck Jonathan over Sunday's plane crash in Nigeria in which 153 persons died.

In her message, the Queen expressed shocked at the incident, according to a statement from the British Deputy High Commission in Lagos, which was made available to PANA.

“I am shocked and saddened to learn of the tragic crash in Lagos on 3 June. My thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of the bereaved and with the Nigerian people, who have suffered from this devastating loss of life," the Queen said in the statement.

It added,” I send my deepest condolences to all those who have lost relatives or have been injured.”

The Austrian government has also expressed its sympathy to Nigeria over the crash of the DANA Air plane.

“I will like to pay tribute to all the victims and their families. We are sorry about that and really horrified by what happened," the Austrian Vice-Chancellor and Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. Micheal Spindelegger, said .

The Foreign Minister, who led delegates from Austria to Nigeria, was in Lagos on Wednesday to see the Lagos state governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, and further seek areas of cooperation between the two countries.

“This is my first time here. Certainly, of course, it will not be the last time. And I am very much impressed about what you have done. You have stable democracy; you have a lot of economic growth. I think you have a lot of young people in this country which is a lot of advantage as against the situation in Europe where you have a lot of aging societies. We are very much interested in the different sectors of your economy. We look forward to signing a lot of agreements here," the visiting Austria foreign minister said.

Mr. Spindelegger also expressed the readiness of the government to expand bi-lateral relations with Nigeria, stressing that many investors from Austria have shown interest to invest in Nigeria.

Speaking earlier, Governor Fashola noted that 13 years of unbroken democratic rule has brought political and economic stability in the country, stressing that a lot of potentials exist for investors to tap into.

He identified such areas of investments to include agriculture and agro-allied, power, transportation, roads, solid minerals, tourism, housing and environment.

The governor said even though Nigeria, like any other country, have its challenges, efforts are on to address them. He said Nigeria was safe.
-0- PANA SB/VAO 6June2012