Crash survivor may be able to return home soon
Source: Agencies |
May 15, 2010, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
LIBYAN authorities said the Dutch boy who is the sole survivor of a plane crash in Tripoli may be flown home to the Netherlands as early as today, as investigators began the daunting task of identifying bodies and determining the crash's cause.
Rescuers found 9-year-old Ruben Van Assouw still strapped in his seat and breathing in an area of desert sand strewn with the plane's debris.
His father, mother and 11-year-old brother are believed to have been among the 103 people on board who were killed on Wednesday when their flight from South Africa crashed short of the runway in Tripoli, the capital of Libya.
One of the lead doctors treating the boy said he could soon go home.
"The situation is stable," said orthopedic specialist Sadig Bendala. "He's OK. He's not getting any worse. He's progressing quite well."
The doctor said many factors could have played a role in his stunning survival, including where he was seated in the plane.
"It's something from God, that he wanted him to live longer," Bendala said.
The child was recovering well after four and a half hours of surgery to repair multiple fractures to his legs.
His aunt and uncle rushed to Libya from the Netherlands and were visiting him in a hospital in Tripoli.
The boy, contacted by phone by a Dutch newspaper, said he could not remember the crash.
"I don't know how I got here, I don't know anything else," he told a reporter from De Telegraaf. "I just want to get going. I want to get washed, dressed and then go."
Most of those on board the Afriqiyah Airways flight from Johannesburg were Dutch tourists.
The Airbus 330-200 may have been attempting a go-around in poor visibility caused by sunlit haze, safety officials and pilots familiar with the airport said Thursday.
Both black boxes, the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder were recovered at the crash site.
Rescuers found 9-year-old Ruben Van Assouw still strapped in his seat and breathing in an area of desert sand strewn with the plane's debris.
His father, mother and 11-year-old brother are believed to have been among the 103 people on board who were killed on Wednesday when their flight from South Africa crashed short of the runway in Tripoli, the capital of Libya.
One of the lead doctors treating the boy said he could soon go home.
"The situation is stable," said orthopedic specialist Sadig Bendala. "He's OK. He's not getting any worse. He's progressing quite well."
The doctor said many factors could have played a role in his stunning survival, including where he was seated in the plane.
"It's something from God, that he wanted him to live longer," Bendala said.
The child was recovering well after four and a half hours of surgery to repair multiple fractures to his legs.
His aunt and uncle rushed to Libya from the Netherlands and were visiting him in a hospital in Tripoli.
The boy, contacted by phone by a Dutch newspaper, said he could not remember the crash.
"I don't know how I got here, I don't know anything else," he told a reporter from De Telegraaf. "I just want to get going. I want to get washed, dressed and then go."
Most of those on board the Afriqiyah Airways flight from Johannesburg were Dutch tourists.
The Airbus 330-200 may have been attempting a go-around in poor visibility caused by sunlit haze, safety officials and pilots familiar with the airport said Thursday.
Both black boxes, the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder were recovered at the crash site.
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