Libyan jet with 104 crashes; boy sole survivor

by authorities in charge."

Afriqiyah Airways is not included on the European Union's list of banned airlines. The list has nearly 300 carriers deemed by the EU not to meet international safety standards.

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.

The main runway at Tripoli Airport is 3,600 yards (meters) long. According to international airport guides, the airport does not have a precision approach system that guides airplanes down to the runway's threshold, but has two other less sophisticated systems that are in wide use throughout the world.

Wednesday's crash was the fourth deadly landing accident at Tripoli airport in the past 40 years, according to the Web site of the U.S.-based Flight Safety Foundation.

In 1970, a Czechoslovak Airlines Tupolev 104 crashed 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) from the airport, killing all 13 people on board. A year later, a United Arab Airlines Comet crashed 4.5 miles (7 kilometers) from the runway threshold, killing all 16 on board. In 1989, a Korean Air DC-10 crashed, killing 75 of the 199 people on the aircraft.

Afriqiyah Airways operates an all Airbus fleet. It was founded in April 2001 and is fully owned by the Libyan government.