ADC Airlines Flight 53
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Summary | |
---|---|
Date | October 29, 2006 |
Type | Crash after take-off |
Site | Abuja Airport, Nigeria |
Fatalities | 97 |
Injuries | 7 |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Boeing 737-2B7 |
Operator | ADC Airlines |
Tail number | 5N-BFK |
Passengers | 104 |
Crew | 9 |
Survivors | 7 |
Aviation Development Company Airlines (ADC) Flight 53 was a scheduled passenger flight operated by ADC Airlines that crashed on October 29, 2006 shortly after take-off from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, Nigeria, at around noon local time (11:00 UTC). Immediately after takeoff from Abuja, the Boeing 737 contacted the ground, broke up and caught fire in a corn field.[1] The flight is reported to have had 104 people on board.[2] Mohammadu Maccido, the Sultan of Sokoto and spiritual leader of Nigeria's Muslims, the sultan's son, Senator Muhammed Maccido, Dr Nnennia Mgbor, the first ever female West African E.N.T. Surgeon, and Abdulrahman Shehu Shagari, son of former president Shehu Shagari, were on the passenger list.[3] There are conflicting accounts on how many people survived the accident, which indicate 6,[4] 7[2] or 9 people survived.
The plane was heading for the northern state of Sokoto. The crash sparked intense national protest to improve the nations aviation sector. It is the direct cause for the change of the minister of aviation and the complete change to its aviation sector. This was the eleventh Nigerian airliner crash since 1995, bringing the death toll to more than 500 people.[2] The previous crash involving ADC happened on 7 November 1996; 143 people were killed when a Boeing 727 went down near Ejirin, losing control after taking evasive action to avoid a mid-air collision.[5]