Britons killed in Tripoli plane crash

Brtions are believed to be among those killed when a plane crashed at Tripoli airport on its way to London Gatwick.

The Afriqiyah Airways plane, which had set off from Johannesburg in South Africa, exploded as it tried to land at Tripoli airport.

An eight-year-old Dutch boy was the sole survivor, according to a report in The Times of India. There are believed to have been 93 passengers and 11 crew on board, including British and South African citizens on their way to London. All the crew were Libyan nationals.

The boy is believed to be in hospital in Tripoli, though there is no confirmation of his condition and some newspaper reports are claiming the survivor was a Dutch girl, not a boy. Last June, a 12-year-old girl was the sole survivor of a Yemeni plane crash off the Comoros.

The cause of the crash is not yet known, but officials say the aircraft disintegrated as it tried to land early in the morning. It landed just short of the runway and burst into flames.

Afriqiyah Airways is a Libyan airline which was launched only nine years ago. It operates a fleet of modern Airbus aircraft. The plane that crashed was an A330, the same type as the Air France plane that crashed over the Atlantic last year on its way from the United States, killing all those onboard.

Airbus has said it will provide all the assistance it can to aid the crash investigation team.

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