Ruben van Assouw, 8, Was Sole Survivor of Libyan Plane Crash

(May 12) -- The sole survivor of today's deadly air crash in Libya has been identified as an 8-year-old Dutch boy named Ruben van Ashout, according to CNN, citing a doctor treating his injuries. A total of 103 others died when the Libyan airliner bound from South Africa crashed this morning while trying to land in Tripoli.

CNN reported that the boy sustained bone fractures in his legs. At least 96 bodies have been recovered from the plane's smoldering wreckage, Libya's transport minister, Mohammed Ali Zaidan, told reporters from several news agencies. Investigators are still on the scene.

Holland's tourism board said at least 61 of the crash victims -- two-thirds of the total 93 passengers on board -- were Dutch tourists returning from a vacation in South Africa.

"This is a large group of Dutch nationals after all, so it's a deeply sad message we have this day," Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told reporters, registering his "shock."

In Brussels, the head of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, called the Dutch boy's survival "truly a miracle."

Television footage shows dozens of rescue workers combing through ashen bits of twisted metal strewn over an area longer than a football field. Amid the debris were broken parts of airline seats with TV screens embedded in them. Personal items like wallets and cell phones were also scattered across the area.

The Airbus 330-200 belongs to a Libyan airline, Afriqiyah Airways, and was en route from Johannesburg. It was then due to continue to London's Gatwick airport.

The aircraft is the same model as an Air France plane that crashed in the Atlantic ocean off the coast of Brazil last year, ABC News reported.

The plane crashed just after 6 a.m. local time "in an accident during landing," the airline said in a statement on its website. "Every effort is being done to address any failure in our safety management system," it said. "At this moment we cannot speculate further."

ABC cited reports of poor visibility over Tripoli, but didn't reveal its source. Volcanic ash from last month's Icelandic eruption shut airports briefly Tuesday in Morocco, Spain and Turkey. But forecasters told several other news agencies that skies have been clear over Libya this morning, with good visibility and low winds. Libya has ruled out terrorism, ABC reported.

"We extend our deepest sympathy to the families and friends of the victims," Afriqiyah said. The search and rescue mission is now finished, it said, without releasing casualty figures.

The plane was carrying 93 passengers of several nationalities, and 11 crew members who are believed to have been Libyan nationals. Britain's Foreign Office said it was investigating reports of British nationals aboard, and the U.K. Embassy in Libya has sent a consular team to the crash site, the BBC reported.

Afriqiyah Airways was founded in 2001 and is fully owned by the Libyan government. Based in Tripoli, it has 13 aircraft that fly to 25 countries, mostly in Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

The European Union keeps a list of nearly 300 airlines it considers unsafe, but Afriqiyah is not among them. The airline recently underwent 10 safety inspections at European airports, with no significant problems, a spokesman for the European Aviation Safety Agency, Daniel Hoeltgen, told The Associated Press. A team of French crash investigators is en route to Tripoli, he said.

"We are currently talking to Airbus and with the French accident investigator BEA, which will be involved in the investigation," Hoeltgen said. "We will lend our support if this is required by authorities in charge."