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ABUJA, Nigeria — A Nigerian airliner reportedly carrying more than 100 people, including the spiritual leader of Muslims in Nigeria, crashed Sunday near the airport in this West African nation's capital. A television station said at least six people survived.
The Boeing 727 crashed shortly after taking off from the airport in Abuja during a storm, state radio reported. The airline was carrying 104 passengers and crew members, the radio station said, citing Rowland Iyayi, head of the National Air Space Management Agency.
The state radio station said no survivors had been found. But private Channels Television said at least six people survived.
A local radio station, Ray Power FM, reported the plane was owned by Aviation Development Co., a private Nigerian airline.
The aircraft was headed to the northwest city of Sokoto, Channels and state radio said. Channels had earlier reported the plane was headed to Lagos.
Among those aboard was the sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Maccido, who is the spiritual leader of Nigeria's Muslims, according to Mustapha Shehu, spokesman for the Sokoto state government.
Shehu said the sultan's son, Muhammed Maccido, a senator, was also aboard, along with Abdulrahman Shehu Shagari, son of former Nigerian President Shehu Shagari, who was in office between 1979 and 1983.
About half of Nigeria's 130 million people are Muslims. The country is the most populous in Africa and the continent's leading oil exporter.
Security forces kept reporters away from the crash site. At the airport in Abuja, security officials are keeping away a crush of people seeking information about friends or family aboard the plane.
President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered an immediate investigation into the cause, his spokeswoman Remi Oyo said in a statement.
Oyo said Obasanjo was "deeply and profoundly shocked and saddened ... he condoles all Nigerians, especially family, friends and associates of those who may have been on board."
The Nigerian airline ADC last suffered a crash in November 1996, when one of its jets plunged into a lagoon outside Nigeria's main city, Lagos, killing all 143 aboard.
