99 killed in Nigerian plane crash

A plane that crashed into a corn field in Nigeria shortly after takeoff has claimed 99 lives, according to reports.

Of the 106 passengers on board the ADC domestic flight, seven have survived and are in hospital. One of the seven is in intensive care with the other six in a stable condition.

Steve Noble, a British diplomat at the scene, told Reuters: "The smell is something you don't want to remember."

Reporters from the news agency noted that burning bodies, some of which were missing heads and limbs, were loaded onto a truck from the wreckage.

Ibrahim Muhammadu, the Sultan of Sokoto, was among the dead. The leader of the nation's 70 million Muslims was on the flight to Sokoto with his son, who was a senator.

The governor of the region has announced six days of mourning for the dead in what marks the fourth significant air tragedy in just over a year.

The president of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, has called for a higher standard of safety in the country's aviation industry.