103 Dead In Libyan Plane Crash At Tripoli Airport
A Libyan plane arriving from South Africa with 104 people on board crashed at Libya's Tripoli International Airport today. All those onboard are believed to have died except a dutch child.
Earlier an airline spokeswoman said that the Afriqiyah Airways plane crashed while attempting to land at the airport in the Libyan capital. "At the moment we have no details of survivors and Afriqiyah Airways will issue further statements when more details can be released in due course," she said.
The plane, an Airbus 330-200, was carrying 93 passengers and 11 crew members. The British Foreign Office added that they were in touch with the Libyan authorities to know whether British nationals were on board the flight.
Meanwhile, workers wearing surgical masks arrived at the crash site combing through the smouldering wreckage that spilled over a large area. The black box, which is used to piece together a flight's last minutes, has been recovered by the officials.
Afriqiyah Airways was founded in April 2001 and operates flights to four continents. It started operations with five leased planes and the Airbus that crashed today is one of three Airbus 330-200s that the airline owns.