Who's His Angel? (sole survivor from a plane crash)

Story from "Mail Times" AP

The Dutch boy who was the sole survivor of a Libyan plane crash that killed 103 people greeted an aunt and uncle with a smile Thursday after they rushed to his hospital room from Holland.

But a Dutch Foreign Ministry official said 9-year-old Ruben van Assouw still may not realize the full extent of his loss because he has not yet been told his parents and older brother were killed in the crash on Wednesday. They were returning home from a family vacation in South Africa to celebrate the parents' 12 1/2-year wedding anniversary -- a Dutch tradition.

"He's awake. He's talking. He is listening," the official, Ed Kronenburg, told The Associated Press after visiting Ruben in the hospital. "Of course he also sleeps quite a lot because he got anesthesia yesterday and is still a bit dizzy," he added.

"He hasn't been told yet, as far as we know, that his parents died."

Rescuers found Ruben still strapped into his seat at one end of a large debris field after the plane crashed while trying to land in the Libyan capital Tripoli, said Libyan safety official Col. Baloul al-Khoja. Kronenburg said they noticed he was still breathing. "That's why they noticed that he was still alive," he said.

Al-Khoja said Ruben was semiconscious and unresponsive, bleeding moderately from the wounds to his legs. As they began moving him around, the shock began to wear off and he felt the pain in his legs, but he did not cry a lot.

Ruben was found about half a mile from a big piece of the tail section, indicating he may have been sitting in the front of plane when it shattered into pieces.

The plane impacted in a large sandy lot before the runway, leaving a long, narrow trail of wreckage, more than 150 meters and about 25 meters wide. The tail, with its colorful Afriqiyah logo, is the largest piece of wreckage, surrounded by shredded plane parts and scattered personal effects.

A romance novel, "Zoete Tranen," Dutch for "Sweet Tears," lies open on page 225. Scattered in the dirt are a charred boot, a black high-heeled shoe, a vinyl motorcycle jacket decorated with Marlboro and Ferrari logos. A milk carton dribbles it contents into the sand. A carcass of a dog buzzes with flies.

No crater or gouge in the earth is visible. Near the start of the wreckage trail sits a car completely crushed. Trees off to the side have been shredded to chunks of wood.

The wall of a house on the edge of the lot is pockmarked by debris. Its owner, 54-year-old Ramadan al-Seid, said he and his family heard the crash and when they looked out the window saw a mass of smoke and dust, with an overwhelming smell of fuel. Then they heard the ambulances coming.