Air crash in Tripoli
- Duration
- 13 May 2010 - 15 June 2010
- Military personnel
- 4
- Fatalities
- none
- Decorations
- none
On 12 May 2010, Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771 took off from Johannesburg, South Africa, carrying 104 passengers and crew. It was bound for the Libyan capital Tripoli. As a result of a series of pilot errors, confusion and disorientation, the aircraft crashed at 6.01 local time on approach to the runway in Tripoli. A 9-year-old Dutch boy was the sole survivor.
Identification
The investigation into the cause of the crash and work to identify the victims started the following day. Because of the large number of Dutch victims, the Libyan authorities requested the assistance of the Netherlands. The first 6 members of the Dutch National Forensic Investigations Team (LTFO) who were assigned to the case arrived in Tripoli on 13 May. They identified the non-Libyan victims. The following morning, the team was strengthened by a further 24 members. Members of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee were also part of the team.
New techniques
The Dutch team spent a total of 33 days identifying the victims, a relatively short period of time given the scale of the event. They were able to complete the work as quickly as they did because of new identification techniques based on DNA analysis. Following completion of the identification process, the last victims were brought to the Netherlands on 15 June 2010. The last LTFO members still in the country left Libya on the same day.