Dozens killed as jet crashes in Libya

Unconfirmed reports suggest an 8-year-old child may have survived

A jetliner carrying more than 100 people crashed in Libya Wednesday, killing dozens of passengers, an official said.

Al Arabiya and al-Jazeera TV both reported that Afriqiyah Airways flight 771 from Johannesburg, South Africa, went down near Tripoli's airport.

News agency AFP said that an eight-year-old Dutch child had been found alive at the scene.

However, Afriqiyah Airways said that 104 people were on the flight and that there was no immediate word of survivors.

In a statement on its website, Afriqiyah Airways said the jet "had an accident during landing at Tripoli International airport at 6 a.m. Tripoli time (12 a.m. ET) Wednesday."

"At this moment we have no information concerning possible casualties or survivors. Our information is that were 93 passenger and 11 crew aboard. The competent authorities are conducting the search and rescue mission," the statement added.

A Libyan security official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said there were 94 passengers and 11 crew members. "All passengers and crew members on board were killed," the official added.

The discrepancy in the figures could not be immediately clarified.

The accident happened as the plane tried to land in the Libyan capital, AFP said. The BBC said the plane had been due to continue on to Gatwick Airport near London after stopping in Tripoli.

The Times newspaper in South Africa quoted an airline employee as saying: "All we can say right now is that the plane crash landed on its final attempt to land."

It said a large number of British passengers were on board the flight.

Clear skiesThe BBC's correspondent in Tripoli reported that the weather was sunny and clear over Tripoli. She said people at the airport told her they could not see the crashed plane from the terminal, but ambulances had been going back and forth from the airport.

Al-Jazeera TV said the plane was an Airbus A330 which had been bought by the airline in 2009. It reported that the flight was a regular service, flying from South Africa every Tuesday and Wednesday.

A South African foreign ministry spokeswoman said the plane had left Johannesburg Tuesday evening and was registered as missing.

"We know that there's a plane missing and we are continuing to monitor the situation. It left Johannesburg last night. It was en route to Libya. We have no idea what's happened to it," ministry spokeswoman Nomfanelo Kota told Reuters.

Afriqiyah Airways was founded in April 2001 and at first was fully owned by the Libyan state, AFP said. The company’s capital was later divided into shares to be managed by the Libya-Africa Investment Portfolio.

The company's website says that the airline only flies modern Airbus 320–200, A319-111 & A330-200 planes.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for more details.