According to the New York Times, the plane was carrying several "high-ranking Nigerian officials." Among those identified from a passenger manifest were the nation's Postmaster Generral.
Among those believed to be aboard and presumed killed was Martin Grieves, a Principal Investigator with Britain's Serious Fraud office. It was not known why he might have been in Nigeria, where several investigations are underway that involve current and past Nigerian residents of Great Britain suspected in fraud, and his identity has not yet been confirmed.
It is not know whether there are survivors, and the nationalities of those aboard has not yet been revealed.
It was the first of two tragedies thrown into the lap of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo this weekend; the second was the death of his beloved wife, Stella, due to the complications of surgery earlier Saturday. CNN had the day wrong, however.
First, here is the CNN report on Stella Obasanjo's death in Spain:
Obasanjo's wife dies in hospital
Sunday, October 23, 2005; Posted: 8:31 a.m. EDT (12:31 GMT)
LAGOS, Nigeria (CNN) -- Stella Obasanjo, wife of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, died Sunday at a hospital in Spain, officials said.
She had traveled to Spain to undergo surgery and died from complications resulting from that surgery, authorities said.
Obasanjo, 59, was "rushed to the hospital late Saturday and the condition became critical," an official at the Nigerian Embassy in Madrid told CNN.
"We don't know the details" of her death on Sunday, the official added, declining to give his name.
The official said the Nigerian ambassador to Spain and key embassy aides from Madrid were traveling to Malaga.
Arrangements were being made to return Obasanjo's remains to Nigeria "as soon as possible."
The official said he did not know when Obsanjo arrived in Marbella. She would have turned 60 on November 14, he said.
The Spanish Foreign Ministry told CNN that Obasanjo was on a private visit to Marbella, and that her body was in a morgue in the nearby town of Malaga, where an investigating magistrate was conducting an autopsy.
The ministry referred any other questions to Nigerian authorities.
Stella Obasanjo was hailed as the Nigerian president's "beloved wife," according to a one-sentence statement signed by presidential spokeswoman Remi Oyo, The Associated Press reported.
Here is the latest story available, from Reuters at 11:06am Sunday. A story below this one was the first reporting on the story.
Nigerian Plane Crashes; All 117 Aboard Feared Dead
By REUTERS
Published: October 23, 2005
Filed at 11:05 a.m. ET
LAGOS (Reuters) - A Nigerian airliner with 117 people aboard was totally destroyed in a crash shortly after take-off from Lagos and there were no signs of survivors, the Nigerian Red Cross said today.
Skip to next paragraph The plane disintegrated on impact with swampy earth near Lissa, about 30 kms (20 miles) north of Lagos, shortly after leaving for the Nigerian capital of Abuja last night.
"The plane is still burning. I can't confirm if there are any survivors, but there is no trace so far," Red Cross General Secretary Abiodun Orebiyi told Reuters by telephone.
"The plane was totally destroyed. It was scattered everywhere."
Dismembered, burned body parts and fuselage fragments were scattered across a large area of disturbed earth, according to images of the crash scene broadcast by the local AIT television station. A cheque for 948,000 naira ($7,200) from the evangelical Christian Deeper Life church was one of a number of personal papers found among the wreckage.
A Red Cross official at the site said there was a 70 foot crater where the main impact occurred.
The Boeing 737-200 was believed to be carrying some senior Nigerian officials as well as a U.S. consular official and some European passengers.
Bellview Airlines flight 210 left at 8:45 p.m. (3:45 p.m. New York time)Saturday and lost contact minutes later during a heavy electrical storm. It was carrying 111 passengers and six crew, the Federal Airport Authority said, updating an earlier figure of 110 passengers. The pilot made a distress call after take-off, indicating the plane had a technical problem, a source at the presidency told Reuters.
State radio reported that several high-ranking government officials were on the plane, but there was some confusion over the names and numbers of passengers.
Distraught relatives wailed and prayed at the Lagos airport as a Bellview Airlines official read out a list of passengers. The list may not be entirely accurate because tickets are often transferred between people in Nigeria, the official said.
The route the airliner was taking is heavily travelled, with dozens of flights each day between the port of Lagos -- one of the world's biggest cities -- and Abuja in the heart of Africa's most populous nation.
Earlier on Sunday, a spokesman for Oyo state, Adeola Oloko, said the crash was 150 kms (100 miles) north of Lagos and about half the passengers had survived. Emergency rescue helicopters went to that site only to find nothing there.
Oloko later retracted that statement in a telephone conversation with Reuters.
Bellview Airlines is a privately owned Nigerian airline and is popular with expatriates.
In Seattle, Boeing spokeswoman Liz Verdier said the company would work with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board if the board was asked to help with any investigation in Nigeria.
She said the 737 was the "workhorse of the world commercial jet fleet".
More than 140 people died in May 2002 when a Nigerian airliner slammed into a poor suburb in the northern city of Kano, killing people on board and on the ground. The aircraft plowed into about 10 buildings shortly after take-off.
Here is the passenger manifest from the plane, courtesy of ThisDay Online:
Identities Of Passengers Aboard Missing Bellview Plane
By Gboyega Akinsanmi, 10.23.2005
1. Abubakar Hauwam S.
2. Ardo Hamza Baba
3. Adomakoh A. Mr.
4. Aknni T.O. Mr.
5. Adegoke A.S Mr.
6. Adedoyin O. Mr.
7. Ani F. Mr.
8. Akinola A.R. Mr.
9. Adele L. Mr.
10. Ango A. Mr.
11. Aigbokhai A.O. Mrs.
12. Afolabi Roberts Mr.
13. Adamu A. Ms.
14. Argngu Abubakr M. Mr. (Postmaster General)
15. Agharrtite T. Mr.
16. Adebayo A.S Mr.
17. Adelekan P. Mr.
18. Akinbola B. Mrs.
19. Ayeni K. Mr.
20. Awawa I. Mr.
21. Babalola B. Mrs.
22. Boro Danlandi Mr.
23. Briamah B. Mrs.
24. Brother Grebe Jean Paul (CHLD)
25. Bakare A.M. Mr.
26. Borbor A.M. Mr.
27. Bebeji R. Mr
28. Conteh S. Mr
29. Chijoke Bravo Dr.
30. Dagaci S.
31.Daba M. Mr.
32. Diapara C.O. General
33. Edewur J. Mr.
34. Etim R.
35. Enenmoh George Engr. (MD, ASCON)
36. Ezenkwu I. Mr.
37. Esiriyiwa Ms.
38. Ejike N. Mr.
39. Emorrhokpor P.U. Mrs.
40. Egwake J.
41. Egbe C. Mr.
42. Eneware S. Mr
43. Goana B. Mr.
44. Grieves Martins Mr.
45. Hayford B.J. Mrs
46. Haydon Joseph
47. Imasuen M. Ms.
48. Igbiye Udu Mr.
49. Inedu I.O. Mr.
50. Ibrahim U. Mr.
51. Igweh J. Chief
52. Idienumah G.S. Mr.
53. Jubril Y.A. Mr.
54. Jimoh L. Mr.
55. Kinsley Akor F. Mrs.
56. Kinsley Akor Mr.
57. Lasisi Olawale Mr.
58. Mohammed M. Mr
59. Michael A. Mrs.
60. Mesoko S. Mr.
61. Mlaguda M. Mr.
62. Mansah S.N.A. Mr.
63. Muhammed Oumar A.B. Mr.
64. Njie Eho Mr.
65. Moru J. Mr.
66. Nize I.O. Chief
67. Okaisabor O. Mr.
68. Oninide D. Mr.
69. Oninide N. Mrs.
70. Olaniyan R. Mrs.
71. Okogwu V. Mrs.
72. Olugbo Nkeiru Mrs.
73. Olumekun J.J. Mr.
74. Okoli Chukwuemeka Mr.
75. Okolo Uche Mr.
76. Oladeji M. Ms.
77. Ofuokwu C. Mr.
78. Obi Mrs.
79. Omang O. Mr.
80. Obiogbolu C.M. Mrs.
81. Olowolayemo G. Mr.
82. Omotade O.A. Mr.
83. Ogbuwaluzor O.G. Mr.
84. Odartey Lamtey E. Mr.
85. Obengamanquah M. Mr.
86. Peter Mann Andreas Mr.
87. Quaye E. Mr.
88. Queen Mr.
89. Raji A.R. Engr.
90. Salihu B. Dr.
91. Shaahu D.P.I Mr.
92. Steven Bayo Mr.
93. Sarah Eshun
94. Sokenu M. Mrs. - (Peoples Bank)
95. Sabulu L.A Mr.
96. Techie Micheal S.R Mr.
97. Thomas S. Mrs.
98. Umaru Hassan Alh.
99. Udeka John Mr. - MD ACB
100. Unokesan Grec Mr.
101. Uriri S. Mr.
102. Umasabor O.A. Mr.
103. Umar A.M. Mr.
104. Uwagboe F. Mr.
105. Uko P.C. Mr.
106. Uyanwune I. Mr.
107. Usman Y. Ms.
108. Wandi A. Mr.
109. Wemuna W. Mrs.
110. Yau S.C. Mr.
111. Yapi Attou Veronique Mrs.
Captain Imasuen Lambert - Okada, Albarka, very experienced
F/O Eshun Ernest
-END-
Here is the first reporting on the crash, most of it originating with CNN:
Sun, Oct. 23, 2005
Plane reported missing in Nigeria
DULUE MBACHU
Associated Press
LAGOS, Nigeria - A passenger plane carrying 114 people was reported missing shortly after taking off from the Nigerian city of Lagos, officials and media reported Sunday.
The Boeing 737 aircraft, operated by Nigeria-based 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 to the capital, Abuja, on a 50-minute flight.
Ibinola said those aboard included 108 passengers and six crew. Their nationalities were not immediately known.
Pilots issued a distress call before the plane disappeared from radar about 15 miles west of Lagos over the Atlantic Ocean, state television reported.
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. Bellview's planes first began flying about 10 years ago and the airline has not suffered a crash before.
There was no word on whether the incident was terrorist-related.
Nigeria has never experiernce an international terror attack, but the United States closed its consulate in Lagos for two days in June after what officials said was a phoned-in terror threat.
Nigeria, with a population of 130 million people, is roughly split between a mainly Muslim north and a Christian-dominated south, and sectarian violence has broken out sporadically.
In 2002, Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network claimed responsibility for an attempt to shoot down an Israeli charter airliner in Kenya with shoulder-fired Stinger missiles.
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