96 bodies found in Libya air crash, child survives

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Until now, 96 bodies of people of different nationalities have been found in the air crash in Libyan capital of Tripoli Wednesday, state-run Jana news agency reported.

Libya Air Crash

Libya's transport minister was quoted by the agency as telling a press conference Wednesday that a ten-year-old Dutch boy survived the crash, who is now under treatment and in good condition in a Libyan hospital.

He added that the ministry will form a special committee to investigate the cause of the crash, the report added.

Libyan authorities have found the two black boxes of the Afriqiyah Airways plane that crashed on landing at Tripoli airport early Wednesday morning, according to Jana.

The Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A330 was flying from Johannesburg to Tripoli when the accident took place at about 6:00 am (0400 GMT) . The plane, Flight 8U771, crashed during the process of landing, said the airport authorities.

The cause of the crash was not clear, the airport authorities said, adding that the weather conditions were good at Tripoli on Wednesday morning. The plane exploded while landing and disintegrated.

Ma Shaoyi, a senior official in the Chinese embassy in Tripoli, told Xinhua that no Chinese citizen was on board the crashed plane this morning.

Passengers on board are mainly Libyans, South Africans and Britons, with a total of 11 Libyan crew staff, he added.

TV footage showed that the wreckage could be seen at the airport but no smoke was visible.

Afriqiyah Airways, the airliner, confirmed in its first statement released earlier Wednesday that its flight 8U771, with 93 passengers and 11 crew aboard, had an accident during landing at Tripoli International airport.

In the second statement of the company, it said the search and rescue mission has now been completed and casualties have been moved to various hospitals, adding a further statement will be issued later on the condition of the casualties.

The company was founded in April 2001 and ran a fleet of Airbus planes.

 

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