Landing System Out at Time of DC-10 Crash, Libyan Says
The government’s civil aviation director said Friday that the instrument landing system at Tripoli airport was not working when a Korean Air DC-10 crashed short of a fog-shrouded runway Thursday, killing at least 77 people.
The system gives the pilot an automatic indication of the center of the runway, but it had not worked for several months, said the official, Mohammed Abughres.
The DC-10 crashed at least half a mile short of the runway. Most of those killed were South Koreans returning from vacation to engineering or construction jobs.
There were conflicting reports on the number killed. Libyan officials said 78 people on the plane were killed. The airline in Seoul said 71 of the 199 people aboard were presumed dead, while the South Korean Embassy in Tripoli said 72 people on the jet died.
Six others were killed on the ground when the airliner cartwheeled into several houses and falling wreckage struck a car.
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