Connecticut Family Of Six, Houston Sisters Among Dead In Nigerian Crash 
 
 Enlarge this image toggle caption Emmanuel Arewa /AFP/Getty Images Emmanuel Arewa /AFP/Getty Images 
 
 "A torrential downpour and strong winds prevented emergency crews from returning Tuesday morning to a devastated neighborhood where a commercial airliner crashed, killing all 153 people aboard the plane and an undetermined number of people on the ground," The Associated Press reports from Lagos. 
 
 The wire service adds that: 
 
 "Charred metal from the plane, rubble from destroyed buildings, thick mud and standing water await the emergency workers. A three-story apartment building at the site struck by the nose of the MD-83 aircraft began shaking Monday as rescuers dug through debris, and they are afraid it might collapse. " 'It's going to be messy,' said Yushau Shuaib, a spokesman for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency." 
 
 Before the rains tore through, 137 bodies had been recovered, Voice of America says. The Dana Air jet crashed Sunday. Its crew had reported engine problems, according to Nigerian officials. 
 
 Among those killed, the Hartford Courant writes, were six members of a Connecticut family — a couple and their four small children — who were on their way to a wedding. They're identified as "Maimuna Anyene of Elmwood, and her husband, Onyeke, of Nigeria. ... Flying with them were their four children: Noah, 5 months; Kaiyen and Kaima, 1-year-old twins; and Kamsi, 3, according to the children's godmother, Mari Sifo." 
 
 Also killed: "two ambitious sisters from the Houston area," according to the Houston Chronicle. The newspaper says Josephine and Jennifer Onita, of Missouri City, Texas, were also in Nigeria for a wedding. ||||| Relatives, friends and church members gathered Monday at the Onita home in Missouri City to mourn the loss of two ambitious sisters from the Houston area who perished in a Sunday plane crash in Nigeria that killed all 153 passengers. 
 
 Josephine and Jennifer Onita, of Missouri City, were in Lagos to attend a wedding. 
 
 They are the middle children of Solomon and Lola Onita, pastors of a Missouri City congregation affiliated with the Nigeria-based Redeemed Christian Church of God. 
 
 The airliner went down in a densely populated area of Lagos, leveling buildings and apartments that are believed to have been occupied. The cause of the crash remains unclear, but investigators said pilots reported engine trouble minutes before impact. The U.S. State Department could not verify the number of Americans on the flight. A spokesman late Monday said that U.S. officials are working with the Nigerian government to ensure all next of kin have been notified and expect to announce an accurate toll on Tuesday. 
 
 News of the deaths stunned loved ones who gathered Monday night to sing and pray at the Onita residence. The story also made headlines on Nigerian, Nigerian-American and Nigerian expat news sites. 
 
 "Josephine always made people laugh. Jennifer is sweet," said their older sister, Christiana Onita-Olojo. "These are angels." 
 
 Engineering degree 
 
 Jennifer Onita, 28, graduated from the High School for the Engineering Professions in Houston, earned an electrical engineering degree from Texas Tech University and recently worked in aeronautics engineering for a NASA contractor. She was a graduate student at the University of Houston studying biomedical engineering. 
 
 "She wanted to do biomedical research and probably work in a hospital," her older sister said. "She was a very fun-loving person." 
 
 Josephine Onita graduated from Hightower High School in Missouri City and studied accounting at the University of North Texas. 
 
 The 23-year-old managed all five locations of Financial Planning and Tax Office, which was founded two decades ago by Solomon Onita after immigrating here from Nigeria with his wife in the early 1980s. 
 
 "It was a family business passed down to her from my father," Onita-Olojo said. 
 
 The Onita daughters had an added sisterly link as members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. All four Onita offspring pursued higher education. Their youngest sibling, Solomon Jr., is scheduled to graduate from college in December. 
 
 Lost without sisters 
 
 Already "lonely" because her husband also was in Lagos for the same wedding, Onita-Olojo said she will be lost without her sisters. 
 
 "I talk to them all the time every day. I don't know who I'm going to talk to anymore," she struggled to explain. "We talk about everything from TV shows to serious stuff. If I hear something silly on the radio, I call and we laugh. 
 
 "I couldn't wait for all of them to get back." 
 
 Funeral arrangements are pending. 
 
 cindy.george@chron.com twitter.com/cindylgeorge ||||| EAST HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Authorities are making plans to demolish the two East Haven houses struck by an airplane Friday in a crash that claimed four lives. 
 
 The Connecticut Post reports the demolition will take place this week. 
 
 The houses were badly damaged when the 10-seat propeller-driven plane crashed on its approach to Tweed New Haven Airport. 
 
 Thirteen-year-old-old Sade Brantley and 1-year-old Madisyn Mitchell were killed when the plane hit their home, setting it on fire. 
 
 Also killed were the pilot, 54-year-old former Microsoft executive Bill Henningsgaard, and his 17-year-old son, Maxwell. 
 
 Officials have said emergency repairs were done after the crash to make the homes safe for the crews that recovered the bodies. 
 
 On Saturday night, dozens of people turned out for a vigil at Margaret Tucker Park to honor those who died in the crash. 
 
 Among those in attendance was 39-year-old Joann Mitchell, the mother of the 13-year-old and the 1-year-old. Mitchell, who did not speak at the vigil, was home at the time of the crash, but managed to escape. 
 
 The Hartford Courant reported that Mitchell posted the following message on her Facebook page: ""My heart is at a standstill. The feeling of emptiness engulfs me. Mommy will always love you … R.I.P. my sweet angels." 
 
 East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo told the crowd at the vigil that the show of support was a great tribute. 
 
 "I think this is a great tribute to a great town," the mayor said, "a caring town, a loving town. A town that comes out when things are down and people need you." 
 
 Gov. Dannel Malloy said in a statement that the vigil was a "profound statement of the ties that bind East Haven and our entire state together as one community." 
 
 "When a family suffers an unimaginable tragedy, we come together and pray that they have the strength they need to carry on," Malloy said. 
 
 "Our thoughts and prayers are with all the families tonight who are suffering from grief and loss."
– As the dust settles on Nigeria's devastating plane crash, victims' identities are emerging, and so far, they include at least eight US residents. A Connecticut family was on board, as were two Houston-area sisters. Four Chinese citizens, a Canadian, a French citizen, and a pair of Lebanese nationals have also been identified, but officials have a long way to go as victims' families pour into a Lagos morgue—particularly in the face of heavy winds and rain at the crash site. Officials are also concerned that a three-story apartment building nearby could crumble after having been hit by the plane. "It's going to be messy," says a Nigerian emergency official. Some 150 bodies have been recovered so far, among them a mother holding a baby, the AP reports. Meanwhile, details on the killed Americans are emerging in local papers, via NPR: The Connecticut dad was Nigerian, and the couple's four kids were all younger than four. The Texas sisters were both in their twenties; one was an engineer, the other an accountant, according to the Houston Chronicle. Both families were en route to Nigerian weddings.