Airplane Missing With 141 Aboard

A Nigerian jet carrying 141 people was missing Thursday after losing contact with air traffic controllers en route to Lagos. A search was under way.

The Aviation Development Corp., owners of the missing Boeing 727, said the plane lost contact with the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos at 5:05 p.m. (8:05 a.m. PDT) when it was about midway through its 50-minute flight from the southern city of Port Harcourt.

Darkness hampered the search, raising the possibility nothing definite would be known until daylight.

ADC, one of several private commercial airlines operating domestic flights in the West African country, said Flight 086 was carrying 132 passengers and nine crew members. It did not indicate what the weather was where the plane disappeared or say if the pilot had reported any problems.