Tripoli, May 12
A Libyan plane arriving from South Africa disintegrated on landing at Tripoli airport today, killing 103 persons but leaving an eight-year-old boy as the sole miracle survivor, officials said.

An official in The Hague said 61 Dutch citizens were killed while Libyan Transport Minister Mohammed Ali Zidan listed "Libyans, Africans and Europeans" among the dead.

Zidan told a media conference that an inquiry was under way to determine what caused the Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A330 to break up massively as it was landing, but he ruled out terrorism.

Libyan television showed teams of emergency workers sifting through the wreckage of the plane, which was scattered in a wide arc across the landing area. "There were 104 persons on board, 93 passengers and 11 crew members," Zidan said, adding that the remains of 96 bodies had already been recovered.

There was only one survivor, an eight-year-old Dutch boy, he said. "His life is not in danger," Zidan said, adding that "the sole survivor" was in good shape in a Tripoli hospital.

Witnesses spoke of the plane inexplicably breaking up as it came down to land in clear weather. "It exploded on landing and totally disintegrated," one security official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. Another official said the plane had burst into flames just before landing. — AFP