SEVEN people have died after a Nigerian military plane crashed approaching the runway in the capital Abuja on Sunday morning, according to officials.

The Nigerian Air Force plane had reported engine failure, the military spokesman tweeted.

The plane was on the way to Minna, in the northern state of Niger to try to rescue 42 people who had been kidnapped.

In a series of tweets, the air force asked the public to “remain calm and await the outcome of investigation.”

The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) has ordered an immediate investigation into the incident.

Air force spokesman Air Vice Marshal Ibikunle Daramola said that all those aboard the aircraft had died.

Witnesses said they heard a loud sound, then the aircraft burst into flames.

Another witness said the smell of burning chemicals lingered in the air at the crash site, in a scrubland just outside the airport perimeter.

Vice Marshal Daramola told reporters that the aircraft was on a mission to try to rescue 42 people, including students and staff abducted from their boarding school in the town of Kagara on Wednesday, when it turned back following engine failure.

(SD-Agencies)