An interim report by Nigeria's Aviation Ministry blames bad weather for two plane crashes that killed 223 people late last year, according to an article by the state-owned News Agency of Nigeria.
The article, published by several news web sites over the weekend, said the preliminary report by the ministry's Accident Investigation and Prevention Bureau blamed "heavy winds and other natural causes" for the crashes.
However, Aviation Minister Babalola Borishade was quoted as saying other factors could have played a part in the crashes, and a final report would be ready in the next two months.
Aviation officials were not available to comment over the Easter holiday weekend.
There has been no conclusive official report on the cause of the two crashes, which occurred within seven weeks of each other.
On October 22, a Boeing aircraft operated by private carrier Bellview crashed in stormy weather shortly after take-off from Lagos, killing all 117 people on board. It took authorities 15 hours to locate the site of the crash.
There has been no word from a technical team of investigators including US experts from Boeing who combed the crash site.
On December 10, a DC9 plane flown by another private airline, Sosoliso, crashed at Port Harcourt Airport, killing 106 people of whom more than half were schoolchildren on their way home from boarding school for the Christmas break.
The plane burned on the runway because there were no functional fire engines at the airport.
Witnesses said the plane crash-landed during a storm, broke into pieces and burst into flames but there has been no official report on exactly what happened.
Nigeria has been trying to overhaul its aviation sector since the two disasters. President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered urgent reforms to improve safety and several airlines were temporarily grounded while their fleets were inspected.
Obasanjo said at the time that corners were being cut in every part of the aviation sector, which was tainted by corruption -- an endemic problem in Africa's most populous country.
In the last six years the number of passengers who travel by air has doubled to eight million people, according to Borishade. However, most of Nigeria's commercial fleet is at least 20 years old.
