LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) – An airliner carrying 114 people was reported missing shortly after taking off from the Nigerian city of Lagos, officials and media reported today.

The Nigerian aircraft, operated by Bellview Airlines, lost contact with the control tower five minutes after taking off at 8:45 p.m. on Saturday, said Jide Ibinola, a spokesman for the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria. It was headed for the capital, Abuja.

Ibinola said those aboard included 108 passengers and six crew. Their nationalities were not immediately known.

On its Web site, CNN news said Nigerian aviation authorities had confirmed that the plane had crashed. This could not be immediately confirmed.

Most aircraft take off from Lagos, Nigeria’s biggest city, in the direction of the Atlantic, and turn back toward the coast.

“We still don’t have any concrete information of what became of the plane,” Ibinola said. “We’ve tried from neighboring countries to see if the plane landed there but there’s no such information.”

Bellview is a privately owned Nigerian airline that mostly operates a fleet of mostly Boeing 737s on internal routes and throughout West Africa.


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