Daily News

Cairo: A Libyan Afriqiyah Airways plane with 104 people on board crashed on landing on Wednesday at the airport in the Libyan capital Tripoli and a search and rescue operation was under way, the airlines said.

Libyan state television showed footage of a large field scattered with small and large pieces of plane debris and dozens of police and rescue workers with surgical masks and gloves, some of them carrying at least one body away. Others sifted through the wreckage -- some of it still smoldering -- including a flight recorder and green seats with television screens on them. A large piece of the plane's tail bearing the Afriqiyah brightly colored logo on it was visible, and other parts of the plane were in shreds. There was also a burnt, smashed car.

The Airbus A330 arriving from Johannesburg, South Africa, was coming in to land when it crashed. There was no immediate word on survivors or the cause, according to a statement by the airlines posted on its website.

"Afriqiyah Airways announces that our flight 771 had an accident during landing at Tripoli International airport," the statement said. "At this moment, we have no information concerning possible casualties or survivors. Our information is that there were 93 passenger and 11 crew aboard. Authorities are conducting the search and rescue mission.

According to initial reports, the plane crashed as it neared the threshold of Tripoli International's main east-west runway, while preparing to touch down from the east.

Weather conditions over Tripoli's international airport were good on Wednesday, with three-mile (4.8-kilm) visibility, scattered clouds at 10,000 feet and winds of only three miles per hour.

In Johannesburg, Afriqiyah's office said it was still trying to provide a breakdown of the nationality of passengers. It said the flight 771 left Johannesburg at 1 a.m. Wednesday (2300 GMT Tuesday).

In London, a Foreign Office spokesman said he was aware of unconfirmed reports that there were British Nationals on board the flight. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government policy.

Afriqiyah Airways operate an all Airbus fleet. It started its operations with five leased planes and then signed a contract with the Airbus Company during the Paris Flight Exhibition in 2007 for the purchase of 11 new planes including five Airbus A-320 and six A-350 models in addition to the right to purchase four further types of the same plane.

It was founded in April 2001 and is fully owned by the Libyan government.