Libyan plane crash kills 96, Dutch boy survives

 

Deadly landing: Rescue teams search the site of the Libyan Afriqiyah Airways plane crash in Tripoli. The plane with 104 people on board crashed on landing Wednesday at the airport in the Libyan capital. –AP/Abdel Meguid al-Fergany

Associated Press, Tripoli | Wed, 05/12/2010 7:15 PM | World 

A Libyan plane crashed Wednesday on approach to Tripoli's airport, killing at least 96 people and leaving a field scattered with smoldering debris that included a large chunk of the tail painted with the airline's brightly colored logo. A 10-year-old Dutch boy was the only known survivor.

Afriqiyah Airways said its Airbus A330-200 arriving from Johannesburg, South Africa was carrying 104 people - 93 passengers and 11 crew. Libyan Transport Minister Mohammed Ali Zaidan said rescuers were still searching for the rest of the victims.

The Royal Dutch Tourism Board said 61 of the dead came from the Netherlands.

"Afriqiyah Airways announces that our flight 771 had an accident during landing at Tripoli International airport," the statement said. "At this moment, we have no information concerning possible casualties or survivors. Our information is that there were 93 passengers and 11 crews aboard. Authorities are conducting the search and rescue mission."

Libyan state television showed a large field scattered with small and large pieces of plane debris and dozens of police and rescue workers with surgical masks and gloves, some of them carrying at least one body away. They gathered small personal items such as wallets and cell phones from the wreckage.

Others sifted through debris - some of it still smoldering - including a flight recorder and green seats with television screens on them. A large piece of the plane's tail was visible, bearing Afriqiyah's brightly colored logo with the numbers "9.9.99," a reference to the date of the founding of the African Union.

The Transport Minister Zidan said 96 bodies have been recovered from the wreckage and rescuers were searching for the rest of the victims. Libya's official JANA news agency quoted him as saying a Dutch boy has survived the crash, but did not say anything on his condition.