Boy 10, in 'miracle' air-crash escape

A TEN-YEAR-OLD boy was the "miraculous" sole survivor of a Libyan airliner crash that killed more than 100 people, including 61 Dutch, 22 Libyans and two British passengers, yesterday.

• Rescue teams search the site of the Libyan Afriqiyah Airways plane crash in Tripoli yesterday at least one Briton is among the dead. Picture: Getty/AFP

The plane, arriving from Johannesburg, crashed short of the runway at Tripoli airport before disintegrating. There were 93 passengers and 11 crew on the Airbus A330 flight 8U771.

Last night, the Libyan carrier Afriqiyah Airways said 58 Dutch passengers, six South Africans, two Britons, two Libyans, two Austrians, one German, one French national and one Zimbabwean were on board.

The nationalities of 19 other passengers has not been confirmed, but the airline said the 11 crew were all Libyan.

A statement on the airline's website said: "Afriqiyah Airways confirms as per the information received from the Libyan authorities the death of the 103 passengers. Only one survived the accident (a Dutch child)."

The boy was taken to a hospital in Tripoli, where he underwent surgery for multiple fractures in both legs. Doctors later said he was out of danger.

The Royal Dutch Tourism Board said 61 victims were Dutch, many of them families headed home after spending their spring break in South Africa.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said: "I was greatly saddened to hear of this morning's Afriqiyah Airways crash."

His statement, which was given before the airline released its list of passengers' nationalities which said two of those on board were British, added: "It is now clear that one of the victims was a British national. Our deepest sympathies are with the families and friends of all those who lost their lives.

"We are continuing urgently to clarify whether any other British nationals were on the flight. We stand ready to offer emergency consular assistance."

Some of those on board had been due to connect with a Tripoli flight that was scheduled to land at Gatwick Airport at 10:50am. It finally arrived shortly before 1:30pm.

Julie Obianika, from Lagos, Nigeria, said passengers burst into a spontaneous round of applause when the connecting flight from Libya landed at Gatwick.

She said: "We were all very happy and I just feel lucky. They gave us a cup of tea when we landed and somewhere for us to go and calm down."

Ms Obianika, who is visiting her sister in Eltham, south-east London, said she had not seen any sign of a crash when she was in Tripoli.

She said: "All we saw was what happened on television. We kept asking people at the airport what had happened and they were just saying there was a crash, but no-one died. It was only when my sister called that I knew. She was worried because she knew I was flying through Tripoli."

The Foreign Office said the official Libyan press agency Jana had reported that 96 bodies had been recovered from the crash site.

A spokesman said: "We have received a passenger manifest from Afriqiyah Airways, but are seeking further details in order to confirm passenger nationalities.

"An official from the British Embassy is at the airport urgently seeking further details. We have put a rapid deployment team on standby in case we need to provide additional consular support in Libya."

The FO hotline in London for concerned relatives and friends to call is 020 7008 8765. Afriqiyah Airlines has set up a telephone line for members of the public seeking information. It is 0203 355 2737.

Pictures of the crash scene showed a wrecked plane, which appeared to have crashed short of the runway at Tripoli.

Airbus – which is based in Toulose, though the plane wings are made in the UK – said the plane that crashed had been delivered to Afriqiyah towards the end of last year.