Jetliner with 104 on board crashes in Nigeria
Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 3:29 pmABUJA, Nigeria (CNN) -- A Boeing 737 carrying 104 people crashed Sunday near the Abuja airport shortly after takeoff and burst into flames, airport and government officials said.
The plane, operated by Nigerian airline ADC, was still on fire at the edge of the runway hours after it crashed around noon (6 a.m. ET).
There may be some survivors, a senior source with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo's office said.
The aircraft was heading to the northern Nigerian state of Sokoto and may have been carrying the Muslim state's highest ranking official, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Mohammadu Maccido, the senior source said.
According to ADC's Web site, Flight 53 was scheduled to take off from the Nigerian capital Abuja at 10:35 a.m. and land in Sokoto an hour later.
Nigeria has a poor air safety record, with at least 11 crashes since 1995 that have killed over 500 people.
The last crash involving ADC happened in November 1996 and killed all 146 people aboard the Boeing 727. That flight went down in Imota, Nigeria after the pilot lost control of the plane while trying to avoid a head-on collision with another aircraft.
Sunday's crash would be the third fatal crash for Nigeria in the past 12 months.
On October 23, 2005, a Bellview Airlines plane went down in bad weather near Lagos, killing all 117 people on board.
An aircraft operated by Sosoliso Airlines crashed in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, on December 10, killing all 108 on board including many schoolchildren on their way home for the holidays.
Shortly after that crash, Obasanjo temporarily grounded Sosoliso.
Months later, Nigeria's aviation minister ruled that the plane crashed because it ran into wind shear during landing, according to a news release from Sosoliso Airlines.
CNN
The plane, operated by Nigerian airline ADC, was still on fire at the edge of the runway hours after it crashed around noon (6 a.m. ET).
There may be some survivors, a senior source with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo's office said.
The aircraft was heading to the northern Nigerian state of Sokoto and may have been carrying the Muslim state's highest ranking official, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Mohammadu Maccido, the senior source said.
According to ADC's Web site, Flight 53 was scheduled to take off from the Nigerian capital Abuja at 10:35 a.m. and land in Sokoto an hour later.
Nigeria has a poor air safety record, with at least 11 crashes since 1995 that have killed over 500 people.
The last crash involving ADC happened in November 1996 and killed all 146 people aboard the Boeing 727. That flight went down in Imota, Nigeria after the pilot lost control of the plane while trying to avoid a head-on collision with another aircraft.
Sunday's crash would be the third fatal crash for Nigeria in the past 12 months.
On October 23, 2005, a Bellview Airlines plane went down in bad weather near Lagos, killing all 117 people on board.
An aircraft operated by Sosoliso Airlines crashed in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, on December 10, killing all 108 on board including many schoolchildren on their way home for the holidays.
Shortly after that crash, Obasanjo temporarily grounded Sosoliso.
Months later, Nigeria's aviation minister ruled that the plane crashed because it ran into wind shear during landing, according to a news release from Sosoliso Airlines.
CNN