'Truly a miracle': Child, 8, survives Libyan plane crash

(NECN/CNN: Tripoli, Libya) - A Libyan Afriqiyah Airways plane carrying 104 people crashed while attempting to land at Tripoli International Airport on Wednesday.

The Johannesburg departure flight ended with the plane broken into scattered pieces in a large field.  The head of the European Parliament said an 8-year-old child survived the crash, calling it "truly a miracle."

Jerzy Buzek said he had been told about 100 people on board the flight died.

The Airbus A330 arriving from Johannesburg, South Africa was coming in to land when it crashed at around 6 a.m. local time.

The airline released this statement on its Web site [sic]:

"we are very sorry to announce the tragic loss of afriqiyah airways flight 8u 771 from johannesburg in an accident during landing at tripoli international airport at 04:00 utc. (06:00 am tripoli time) today wednesday 12 may. we extend our deepest sympathy to the families and friends of the victims the search and rescue mission has now been completed and casualties have been moved to various hospitals. the secretariat of health will issue a statement on the condition of those casualties.

"our prime objective is to prevent accidents from happenning and every effort is being done address any failure in our safety management system. at this moment we cannot speculate further and will relay to you all factual information as we receive them"

Material from The Associated Press used in this report. Video courtesy of Libyan TV.