Libya air crash survivor regains consciousness

TRIPOLI - A 10-year-old boy from the Netherlands, the sole survivor of a plane crash that killed 103 people in Libya, has regained consciousness after a surgery at a hospital here.

The Afriqiyah Airways’ Airbus-A330, which arrived in Tripoli from South Africa with 93 passengers and 11 crewmembers on board, crashed minutes before landing Wednesday.

Libyan Transport Minister Mohammed Ali Zidan Wednesday night visited the child, identified as Robben Van Achout, at the al-Khadraa hospital in Tripoli, after he recovered consciousness following a surgery to repair several fractures in his legs, Xinhua reported citing state-run Jana news agency.

The boy had suffered bleeding before the surgery because of several fractures in both legs. He had sustained four bone fractures, but there were no fractures in the skull or the neck. He is now in a stable condition, head of the child care unit at the hospital, Hamida al-Sahli, was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, Dutch newspaper Babants Dagblad said the survivor was Ruben van Assouw, from the southern Dutch city of Tilburg.

His grandmother, Ann van de Sande, said he was on a safari trip to South Africa with his father Patrick, 40, mother Trudy, 41, and brother Enzo, 11.

“We cannot understand anything at all. It’s like watching a movie,” she said.

There were 59 passengers from the Netherlands, seven from South Africa, two from Britain, two from Austria, one from Germany, one from Zimbabwe, one from France, and two from Libya, a statement from Afriqiyah Airways said Wednesday.

The fatalities list also included an all-Libyan, 11-member crew, while 17 bodies were yet to be identified.