Plane Crashed In Libya - 103 Killed - 1 Dutch Boy Of 10 Survives

[LaoPo]

Plane crash in Libya 'kills more than 100 on board'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8676758.stm with video

LaoPo

[LaoPo]

Libya plane crash: British people among 100 dead

Dutch child believed to be sole survivor after Afriqiyah Airways plane crashes at Tripoli airport en route to London Gatwick

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/1...-crash-100-dead

LaoPo

[Crossy]

BEFORE anyone comes up with the 'not Thailand related' card, events of this magnitude are allowed to run.

RIP to all the souls who suffered a violent death

[LaoPo]

Libya plane crash kills 103, Dutch child survives

By Ali Shuaib Ali Shuaib 8 mins ago

Slide show photos: http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Tripoli-airp...e5fb03eb979fa07

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – A Libyan Airbus crashed as it tried to land at Tripoli airport early on Wednesday, killing 103 passengers and crew aboard, but a Dutch child survived, Libyan officials said.

Libya's Afriqiyah Airways said it operated the plane, which was flying from Johannesburg in South Africa to Tripoli. Planemaker Airbus said the jet was an A330-200 and that the company would help authorities with their investigation.

"All of the passengers and crew died except for one child," a Libyan security source told Reuters at Tripoli airport. "There were 93 passengers and 11 crew on board."

Libya's Transport Minister Mohamed Zidan said the sole survivor was a 10-year-old Dutch child. "The child is in good condition and is in hospital undergoing checks," the minister told a news conference at the airport.

The minister also said an investigation would be launched to establish the cause of the crash but he ruled out a terrorist attack.

A Reuters reporter at the airport was not able to see the crash site but said ambulances could be seen ferrying bodies of the victims to hospital mortuaries. Libyan officials said they had recovered dozens of bodies.

"The plane crash landed short of the runway. For now we do not have any further details," an Afriqiyah official who identified himself as the manager of its legal department told Reuters by telephone.

AFRICANS, EUROPEANS AMONG DEAD

The casualties included 22 Libyans, half of them members of the crew, and the rest were of various nationalities, officials said. They said they did not have any more details, except that there were Africans and Europeans among the dead.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said several dozen Dutch passengers were on board but he did not have the exact number. A crisis team has been set up at the foreign affairs ministry.

In a statement posted on its website, Afriqiyah Airways said its flight 8U771 had an accident during landing at Tripoli International airport. An airport official said the plane crashed at 6.10 a.m. local time (0410 GMT).

An executive with the airline told the news conference that it would be setting up an information center at a Tripoli hotel to handle inquiries about the victims.

The airline also posted a telephone number on its Internet site for anyone seeking information about passengers.

"We are very sorry to announce the tragic loss of Afriqiyah airways flight 8U771 from Johannesburg in an accident during landing at Tripoli international airport," the airline said in its statement.

"We extend our deepest sympathy to the families and friends of the victims," it said.

Airbus issued a statement confirming it had manufactured the plane involved in the crash. "Airbus will provide full technical assistance to the authorities responsible for the investigation into the accident," it said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100512/wl_nm/us_crash_libya

LaoPo

[Crossy]

As usual PPRUNE has the lowdown (and the usual carp) http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/414936-...-330-crash.html

[LaoPo]

According to various news sources the only survivor is indeed a 10 year old Dutch boy.....He was traveling together with his parents and an 11 year old brother or sister (not confirmed yet).

The 61 + the boy of 10, Dutch tourists came from Johannesburg, South Africa and booked their trip via 2 well known Dutch tour operators. The plane was on route: from Johannesburg via Tripoli to the final destination London

The crash with the Airbus 330-200 appeared to have happened during landing procedures but the weather was fine.

LaoPo

[LaoPo]

"Afriqiyah's fleet, prior to the crash, consisted of 11 new Airbus planes, according to the company's website. It has three wide-body A330 models, all of which entered its fleet just last year, according to AeroTransport Data Bank, a company that tracks airplanes. The planes are bigger than, but very similar to, the smaller single-aisle Airbus models it has flown for several years. All planes carry the number 9.9.99 on their tail, referring to the birth date—Sept. 9, 1999—of the African Union."

From: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405...World_LeadStory

LaoPo

[Lando]

According to some witnesses, the plane disintegrated 1 meter from runaway.

Looking at disaster scene on TV it looks like an explosion....if it was a crash landing, low speed and little fuel left plus no depressurization issues..how could disintegrate that way ?

[Crossy]

According to some witnesses, the plane disintegrated 1 meter from runaway.

Looking at disaster scene on TV it looks like an explosion....if it was a crash landing, low speed and little fuel left plus no depressurization issues..how could disintegrate that way ?

PPRUNE are suggesting a wingtip dug in causing the aircraft to cartwheel

Crash is about 1km short of the threshold.

[Sisaketmike]

According to some witnesses, the plane disintegrated 1 meter from runaway.

Looking at disaster scene on TV it looks like an explosion....if it was a crash landing, low speed and little fuel left plus no depressurization issues..how could disintegrate that way ?

PPRUNE are suggesting a wingtip dug in causing the aircraft to cartwheel

Crash is about 1km short of the threshold.

Oh my god. My deepest condolences to all who are involved.

[LaoPo]

Child is sole survivor of Tripoli air crash

A child aged about 10 is the only survivor of a plane crash at Tripoli airport in Libya which killed more than 100 people.

Libyan officials say the child is Dutch and is being treated in hospital for injuries including broken bones.

Dutch officials say 61 of their nationals were killed in the crash.

The plane, belonging to the Libyan airline Afriqiyah Airways, crashed as it arrived from Johannesburg, South Africa. The cause is not yet known.

Other passengers were from Libya, South Africa, Germany, Britain and France.

Libyan TV showed the child who survived being treated in hospital

The Airbus A330 - carrying 93 passengers and 11 crew - crashed as it came into land at Tripoli and disintegrated. The plane's tailfin bearing the airline's colourful insignia was the only sizeable piece of wreckage to be seen.

The child was taken to hospital and underwent surgery for multiple fractures to both legs, officials said.

Libyan TV showed the child in a hospital bed with a bandaged head and wearing an oxygen mask.

Libyan officials and the Dutch tourism board said he was a 10-year-old Dutch boy, but the Dutch foreign ministry said it could not verify any details.

Flags across the Netherlands were flying at half mast for the victims on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said a crisis team had been set up in the foreign ministry.

"This is a large group of Dutch nationals, so it's a deeply sad message we have this day," he said.

The plane's 11 crew were reported to have been Libyan.

The British Foreign Office confirmed that at least one British national was on board and Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin later confirmed that an Irish woman was among the dead.

Libyan Transport Minister Mohammed Ali Zidan said victims also included nationals from Germany, Finland, Zimbabwe, the Philippines, South Africa and France, although he had no exact numbers.

Connecting flights

Nicky Knapp, a spokeswoman for Airports Company South Africa, said seven passengers were booked to connect to London Gatwick Airport, 32 to Brussels, 42 to Dusseldorf in Germany, and one to Charles de Gaulle in Paris.

VICTIMS' NATIONALITIES

# Libyan

# Dutch

# German

# British

# Finnish

# Zimbabwean

# Philippine

# South African

# French

# Irish

The cause of the crash was not immediately known. Some reports suggest the plane crashed very close to the runway.

A flight recorder has already been recovered, and officials hope this will provide some clues as to what caused the disaster.

However, Mr Zidan ruled out terrorism as the cause of the crash.

He said arrangements were being made to help victims' relatives come to Tripoli.

According to Airbus, the aircraft was delivered from the production line in September 2009 and had accumulated about 1,600 flight hours in some 420 flights.

Afriqiyah Airways is a low-cost Libyan airline founded nine years ago and operates a relatively new fleet of Airbus aircraft, the BBC's Wyre Davies in Cairo reports.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/8679019.stm

Published: 2010/05/12 19:22:37 GMT

LaoPo

[LaoPo]

LaoPo

[LaoPo]

70 Dutch passengers confirmed dead - 1 Dutch boy of 9 years old, Ruben van Assouw is the only survivor; he lost both parents and an elder brother of 11.

They were returning from a safari in South Africa.

The reason that the Dutch number had to be adjusted upwards from 61 dead is that a group of 9 Dutch passengers booked their own trip, the Van Assouw family amongst them.

The rest of the 61 were booked via 2 tour operators.

There is still no detailed passengers list of the total 103 confirmed dead.

The Libyan authorities are removing all parts from the crashed plane and putting them into a large pile of pieces on several locations in the neighborhood. The plane has been fragmented into thousands of small pieces over a large area just 1 km short of the landing strip.

I am no expert but isn't it normal that specialists (from AIRBUS for instance) investigate the crashed plane (or what's left of it) FIRST, before removing all parts ?

There are -unconfirmed- (Libya!) reports that witnesses have seen that the plane exploded in the air just before landing and another explosion(s) after the plane crashed.

Very strange.

LaoPo

[321niti123]

RIP to all the people in the flight.

Good luck to that boy who survived, i feel so sorry for his lost