Libyan airliner arriving from South Africa disintegrated on landing at Tripoli airport on killing 103 people and leaving one survivor, an 8 year old boy. The dead included nationals of nine countries, 61 came from the Netherlands, which ordered flags on government buildings flown at half-mast as a mark of respect. Some nine hours after the 6 am (0400 GMT) crash, the child underwent surgery at a Tripoli hospital where medical staff said his condition was not life-threatening. The boy suffered broken legs and was injured in the head. Witnesses told reporters that the aircraft inexplicably broke up as it came in to land in clear weather. It exploded on landing and totally disintegrated. Teams of emergency workers wearing face masks sifted through the wreckage, which was scattered in a wide arc across the landing area. The Libyan transport minister said that the crashed plane was new and had only been acquired by the airline last September. The aircraft had received its last maintenance check from German airline Lufthansa in Milan on March 5 and had since flown only 1,586 hours. The aircraft which crashed was an Airbus A330-200.
The scene hours after the crash, May 12, 2010
