Related: Passenger plane missing in Nigeria

    LAGOS, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- A Nigerian plane with 114 people on board crashed late Saturday shortly after taking off from Lagos for the capital Abuja, state radio reported on Sunday.

    The plane took off at 8:45 p.m. (1945 GMT) and lost contact with the control tower during a heavy electrical storm, the reportsaid.

    The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) was quoted asconfirming on Sunday that "in the early hours of this morning thata Boeing 737 Bellview Airlines plane which took off from Lagos ...has crashed. Some high level government officials are believed tobe on board."

    The FAAN embarked on a land and sea search in the early hours of Sunday and said they would deploy helicopters at first light.

    A FAAN official disclosed the pilots issued a distress call before the plane disappeared from radar about 24 km west of Lagos over the Atlantic Ocean.

    The FAAN said the missing airliner heading for the Nigerian capital Abuja was operated by Bellview Airlines, one of leading local airlines.

    The missing airliner is a Boeing 737 which normally carries about 110 passengers. The Lagos-Abuja is the busiest shuttle routein the west African country as Lagos is the commercial capital of the country and Abuja, the nation's capital. Enditem