Plane boy set to be flown back to Holland today

AUTHORITIES said the Dutch boy who is the sole survivor of a plane crash in Libya may be flown home to the Netherlands as early as today, offering a glimmer of hope as investigators began the daunting task of identifying bodies and determining the crash’s cause.

Rescuers found 9-year-old Ruben van Assouw still strapped in his seat and breathing in an area of desert sand strewn with the plane’s debris. His father, mother and 11-year-old brother are believed to have been among the 103 people on board who were killed last Wednesday when their flight from South Africa crashed short of the runway in Tripoli.

One of the lead doctors treating the boy said he may be able to return home today.