Dutch boy survives plane crash that kills 103

TRIPOLI – Hopeful family members rushed to a Libyan hospital yesterday to reunite with the Dutch boy who was the only survivor of a plane crash that killed 103 people and doctors said the 9-year-old was out of danger after surgery on his shattered legs.

An unnamed spokeswoman from the Dutch Embassy in Tripoli told Dutch state broadcaster NOS that the boy immediately recognised his relatives when they came in to see him, and smiled at them.
The Dutch Foreign Ministry said the boy had told an embassy official his name is Ruben, he is 9 years old and he is from the southern city of Tilburg in the Netherlands.
A Dutch newspaper quoted a woman who appeared to be the boy’s grandmother as saying he had been in South Africa on safari with his brother and parents, who were celebrating their wedding anniversary.
The Libyan plane was arriving from South Africa on Wednesday when it crashed minutes before landing at the airport in Libya’s capital Tripoli.
Dr Hameeda al-Saheli, the head of the pediatric unit at the Libyan hospital where the boy is being treated, said he is breathing normally and his vital organs are intact. She told the official Libyan news agency he suffered four fractures in his legs and lost a lot of blood, but his neck, skull and brain were not affected and he did not suffer internal bleeding.
‘As soon as his health permits he will be brought to the Netherlands,’ the Dutch Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
A newspaper identified the boy as Ruben van Assouw from Tilburg.
The Airbus A330-200 was completing a more than seven-hour flight across the African continent from Johannesburg when it crashed. About half of the crash victims were Dutch tourists who had been vacationing in South Africa.
Libya’s transport minister, Mohammed Zaidan, said the plane’s two black boxes had been found and turned over to analysts. He said the cause of the crash was under investigation, but authorities had ruled out a terrorist attack.
– Nampa-AP

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