A Nigerian airliner on a scheduled flight is missing and presumed crashed, officials said on Sunday, adding that helicopters have been scrambled to find any survivors.
Once the plane had been missing for more than eight hours, officials from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (Faan) confirmed that it may have plunged into the Atlantic Ocean shortly after takeoff.
”It was the Bellview flight from Lagos to Abuja. It took off at 7.50pm (8.50pm GMT) tonight [Saturday]. Two police helicopters are looking for it,” said Faan spokesperson Adamu Abdullahi.
The official could not not say how many people had been on board, but confirmed that the plane was a Boeing 737 airliner which would normally carry around 110 passengers on the busy shuttle route.
Officials said the plane had dropped off radar shortly after take off over the sea, as it turned south of the city shortly before heading north over land.
Nigeria has a terrible record for aviation safety and has been the scene of numerous crashes, including an accident in May 2002 when an airliner plunged into a suburb of Kano, killing 115 on board and scores more on the ground.
There have been a number of recent near misses, including an incident last month in which an Air France jet arriving in the oil city of Port Harcourt from Paris hit a herd of cows. No-one was hurt, but the plane was badly damaged.
Bellview is a private airline operating routes within Nigeria and west Africa. Its service between Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, and Abuja is popular with diplomats and international businessmen.
In Lagos, friends of those on board began receiving worried calls late in the evening after the flight did not arrive as planned, but officials could offer them little comfort. ”It’s missing,” Abdullahi said.
Lagos is Nigeria’s biggest city and main port but the country’s capital has been moved to Abuja and flights between the two cities are usually busy.
Some of the private, Nigerian-owned airlines plying the route are regarded as unsafe and shunned by foreign travellers. Bellview, however, has usually been regarded as a secure and professionally run airline. – AFP
