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Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A330-202 plane crash

Tripoli, Libya
Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A330-202 plane crash - Tripoli, Libya

Key facts

Airline
Afriqiyah Airways
Aircraft
Airbus A330-202
Location
Tripoli, Libya
Date
12th May, 2010
People on board
104
Fatalities
103

Updated on

Accident account

The Airbus A330-202 operated by Afriqiyah Airways took off from Johannesburg, South Africa, for a passenger flight bound for Tripoli, Libya. 93 passengers and 11 crewmembers were onboard. The plane was destroyed when it crashed while on approach to Tripoli International Airport. Only one passenger survived the crash. 103 people died.

The A330 was on approach to Tripoli's runway 09 when it crashed short of the runway. The airplane was completely destroyed. On the crash scene, debris are scattered widely, and a tail fin stuck up from the debris. No post impact fires occurred.

Tripoli International Airport has no instrument landing system, runway 09 has non precision VOR and NDB approaches available, but the VOR signal was reported through NOTAM to be possibly unreliable as interference were being experienced with current airport development work. This information was available to the crew.

The atmosphere was calm, but low to medium visibility prevailed at the moment of the accident.

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Afriqiyah Airways is currently on the blacklist of airlines banned from flying in the European Union.

Accident location

The aircraft (Airbus A330-202)

Aircraft similar to the one which crashed (Airbus A330-202)
Aircraft similar to the one which crashed (Airbus A330-202)