Google News - Abuja (dpa) - There were seven survivors after a commercial aircraft carrying 104 people crashed in a mountainous area of Nigeria near Abuja Sunday, the Chief Medical Director of the National Hospital said.

"Six of the survivors are in stable condition, while one is in intensive care. I sincerely believe that the six will survive," Dr. Olusegun Ajuwon told Deutsche Press-Agentur dpa.

The plane, a Boeing 737 carrying 98 passengers and six crew, took off from Abuja and was heading to Sokoto in north-west Nigeria when it burst into flames barely four minutes into the flight, Director- General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Dr. Harold Demuren, told dpa.

The aircraft operated by a Nigerian airline, the Aviation Development Corporation, was built in 1983. The airline had a serious plane crash in Lagos 10 years ago in which around 125 persons died.

The Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Maccido, who was the spiritual leader of Muslims in Nigeria, was among the dead, Sokoto State Commissioner for Information, Ibrahim Gidado, confirmed. He said President Olusegun Obasanjo would visit Sokoto on Monday.

A senator from the state was also killed.

Presidential spokesperson Remi Oyo said the president was deeply shocked and saddened by the crash and has ordered an investigation.

"We have cordoned off the crash site and combined efforts are being put in place to safeguard the crash site," said the Commissioner of Police in Abuja, Lawrence Alobi.

It was the third plane crash in Nigeria this year. Last month a crash killed a number of top military personnel.