Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA, Engineer Ibrahim Abdulsalam, said the US plane which was reported missing by PANA had been officially handed over to Cameroon airspace.

The four-seater plane, owned by Global Aviation, an American company, took off from Kano at 6p.m. on Monday en route Libreville in Gabon, where it was scheduled to arrive at 11p.m., after a stopover in Douala, Cameroon.

Engr. Abdulsalam told newsmen that NAMA could not partake in the search of the missing plane, stressing that once an aircraft had left a country's airspace, there was nothing that country could do in case of any incident.

He said: "The plane has gone out of Nigeria. We handed it over to the Cameroon airspace. It is their score since it did not happen in Nigeria airspace."

However, the Cameroon Airspace station said the plane, with only the American pilot on board, did not make it to Douala.

It said the last contact the plane had with the control tower took place in Mongo, which is two hours flight from Douala.

Report at press time said search and rescue operations, led by Cameroon's civil aviation, authorities have not yielded any results yet.