ABUJA, Nigeria, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- A Boeing 737 carrying 104 people crashed near Nigeria's Abuja airport Sunday, killing at least 100 people, including the country's Muslim spiritual leader.
The plane, operated by Nigeria's ADC airline, crashed soon after takeoff on the third leg of a flight from Calabar to Sokoto via Lagos and Abuja, a Nigerian newspaper, the Daily Sun, reported. The newspaper said that five people survived the crash.
While the cause of the crash has not been determined, the weather was bad when the plane left Abuja.
Among the passengers was the Sultan of Sokoto Muhammadu Maccido, spiritual leader of Nigeria's Muslims, and Maccido's son, Sen. Muhammed Maccido. Their bodies had been identified and were to be buried quickly in accordance with Muslim law.
About half of Nigeria's 130 million people are Muslims.
Also reported killed was Abdulrahman Shehu Shagari, son of former Nigerian President Shehu Shagari.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered an investigation into the country's third major air disaster in a little over a year.
The last crash involving ADC happened in November 1996 and killed all 146 people aboard the Boeing 727.
The crash was Nigeria's second major one in less than two months and the fourth in a year. A military plane came down 42 days ago, killing 10 generals and three other top military officials. In late 2005, two passenger planes crashed.
