A mother awaiting news of her child at Port Harcourt Airport said the plane was carrying 75 secondary school students from a Jesuit college in the capital Abuja.

"I called the school and they confirmed there were 75 students on board," said the mother, who was distraught and did not give her name.

The plane, travelling from Abuja to Port Harcourt, was operated by private Nigerian carrier Sosoliso.

Civil aviation spokesman Samuel Adurogboye said the plane was carrying 103 passengers and seven crew when it missed the runway on landing and burst into flames.

He said 103 people died. Seven survived the crash.

The cause of the crash was unknown but Adurogboye said the aircraft "ran into bad weather".