Libyan jet crash kills 103, Dutch boy only survivor

TRIPOLI, (Reuters) – A Libyan Airbus jet crashed  early yesterday as it tried to land at Tripoli airport,  killing 103 people on board and leaving a Dutch boy the sole  survivor, Libyan officials said.

The Airbus A330-200, only in service since September, was  flying from Johannesburg to the Libyan capital when it crashed  just short of the runway around 6 a.m. (0400 GMT), the airline  and planemaker said.

The aircraft is the same type as Air France Flight 447,  which crashed in the Atlantic on June 1 last year. The cause of  that crash has not been identified.

Saleh Ali Saleh, an executive with Libya’s Afriqiyah Airways  told Reuters 62 Dutch nationals had been among those on board.

“Everybody is dead, except for one child,” said Libyan  Transport Minister Mohamed Zidan, who added the child was 10  years old. The plane was carrying 93 passengers and 11 crew,  Libyan officials and executives from the airline said.

Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen told reporters in The  Hague that the boy had said “Holland, Holland” to Libyan medical  staff. The child’s doctors at a Tripoli hospital said he had  suffered leg fractures but was in a stable condition.

A manifest of those on board was not released but officials  in Libya and in the passengers’ countries of origin said,  besides the Dutch, there were small numbers of nationals from  Britain, Germany, the Philippines, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The transport minister told a news conference 13 Libyan  passengers and crew had been on the aircraft. He said there were  also citizens of France and Finland on board, though he did not  say how many.

The minister said investigators were working out what went  wrong with Afriqiyah Airways Flight 8U771. He ruled out errorism  as the cause.