Libyan plane crash Irish creator Bree OMara dies ash cloud delays flight United kingdom

Two Britons on board flight, says airline Dutch ten-year-old survivor in stable condition today Reports identify him as Ruban Van Assouw - on holiday with family for parents' wedding anniversay

Investigation into crash begins Tragic: Bree O'Mara, an Irish author who died in the Libyan air crash yesterday This is the Irish author who is among the first to be identified as one of the victims of the Libyan air crash. Bree O'Mara - a former flight attendant - was flying to Britain to sign a book deal after being delayed by the volcanic ash cloud, it was revealed today. The 42-year-old, who was living in South Africa, missed the London Book Fair last month because of the airspace shutdown and put off her trip until this week. She had been due to meet publishers to pen a contract for her latest novel, Nigel Watson, Superhero, based in London where she used to live. Publisher Kerrin Cocks, director of 30 Degrees South Publishers, who secured the writer's first book deal, said O'Mara lived and wrote to enjoy the lighter side of life. 'Bree really was the most incredible person,' she said. 'From the first moment we met her she had this incredible red hair and this personality to match it. 'She supported every event we did. She was really this incredible person and she was funny. She liked to look at the lighter side of life.' Ms O'Mara lived in Hartbeespoort Dam, in South Africa's North West Province with her chef husband, Christopher Leach. Born in Durban, it is understood she was hugely proud of her Irish roots and travelled on an Irish passport. Her mother was Irish and eloped to Africa with her father, which the writer claimed on her website 'caused an outrage in the Emerald Isle'. The writer worked for many years as a flight attendant in the Middle East before moving to London in the 1990s to work in film production. Ms O'Mara, a married former flight attendant, had boarded the Afriqiyah flight after delaying her original journey to Britain due to the volcanic ash chaos She returned to South Africa in the last few years after spending most of 2004 living with Masai tribes in Tanzania, recording their way of life and previously secret rituals. Publisher Ms Kerrin had planned to use the hours of footage to produce a documentary on the ancient tribe's vanishing way of life. 'She really had an adventurous way of life,' Ms Cocks said. Ms O'Mara's uncle was retired British Colonel Mike Hoare, who had years of renowned service in the Congo. She was commissioned to pen his biography, which will not be published until after his death. end Today the investigation into the cause of the crash has begun. The Al Afriqiyah Airways Flight 8U771 flight recorders have been recovered, and authorities are hoping the data on them will reveal what caused the horrific crash. Meanwhile, the family of Priscilla Collick, a mother-of-two from Wales, have spoken of their devastation that she was one of the victims. The 52-year-old from Swansea was on her way home after visiting relatives in South Africa. Her son Sean, 24, said: 'It is going to be a great loss to me. It doesn't seem real at the moment. I don't know what I am going to do without her.' Dutch relatives arrive at an airport in Rotterdam today to board a flight headed for Tripoli amid speculation they are the family of the sole survivor Grief: Left, a relative of one of those on board the flight on her way to speak to authorities in Johanessburg. Right, an Afriqiyah worker breaks down in tears at a press conference  Police accompany relatives of crash victims at the airport in Brussels yesterday  Mrs Collick, a night-shift worker at an Asda store in Llanelli, has another son Kieran, 14. Meanwhile the sole survivor of the crash of the Libyan-owned Airbus A330-200 - a boy of ten - was struggling to recover in a Tripoli hospital today. The Dutch boy - named in some reports as Ruben Van Assouw, on holiday with his older brother and parents to celebrate their wedding anniversary - was miraculously flung clear of the wreckage as the plane exploded, disintegrating on impact. The family had been on a safari holiday. It is not yet clear if the boy knows he is now an orphan. Yesterday doctors operated on him for four hours. He has multiple leg fractures, and is unable to move parts of his body. It is believed that his brain may have been bruised during the crash. When a doctor asked him where he was from, he is said to have dazedly mumbled: 'Holland, Holland'. But he greeted his relatives with a smile today as they rushed to bedside. His aunt and uncle are in Tripoli and Dutch state broadcaster NOS said that the boy immediately recognised his loved ones and smiled at them when they came in. Miracle survivor: The unnamed Dutch boy who was flung to safety by the explosion as the flight disintegrated in Tripoli today Battered: The boy's legs were broken in several places and he is still unable to move parts of his body. It is believed that his brain was bruised during the crash - but he is expected to survive Lucky escape: The boy's face and some of his body appears bruised as he is looked after in the hospital   The Dutch Foreign Ministry said the boy told an embassy official his name is Ruben and he is from the southern city of Tilburg in the Netherlands. Dr. Hameeda al-Saheli, the head of the pediatric unit at the hospital where the boy is being treated, said he is breathing normally and his vital organs are intact. She told the official Libyan news agency he suffered four fractures in his legs and lost a lot of blood, but his neck, skull and brain were not affected and he did not suffer internal bleeding. He is thought to be only the 14th sole survivor of a major plane crash. This morning Afriqiyah Airlways said that two Britons and an Irish citizen were among those killed when Flight 771 from Johannesburg, South Africa, exploded as it came in to land at the Libyan capital. The pilot was said to have warned air traffic controllers of a problem as he approached the capital's airport. Offerings: Children leave a teddy bear and flowers at the front door of the home of of sole Libyan plane crash survivor Ruben van Assouw in Tilburg, southern Netherlands Seven of the passengers on the flight were due to fly on to Gatwick Airport after a stopover in Libya and Foreign Office officials were checking on the nationalities of those on board. More... How did a boy of ten survive Libyan plane crash horror that killed 103, including two Britons? The airline said 58 Dutch passengers, six South Africans, two Britons, two Libyans, two Austrians, one German, one French national and one Zimbabwean were on board. Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs also confirmed a 42-year-old woman with Irish citizenship was on the passenger list. The nationalities of the other passengers were not confirmed but the airline said the 11 crew were all Libyan. Dutch officials said 61 of the dead were from Holland. Explosion: The debris of the Afiqiyah Airways plane crash, which a ten-year-old boy miraculously survived Enlarge  'It disintegrated': Police and rescue workers stand among the mangled remains of Al Afriqiyah Flight 8U771, which crashed on landing at Tripoli airport yesterday    Germans, Libyans, South Africans and French were feared among the other victims. Last night police and rescue workers worked to gather evidence and bodies from the field of debris, which included a large tail section bearing Afriqiyah's brightly coloured logo. MIRACLE SURVIVORS The miracle boy in Libya is thought to be only the world's 14th sole survivor of a major plane crash. Six were children and four were flight crew. Some of the others include: June 29, 2009: Yemenia Flight 626. French schoolgirl Bahia Bakari, 13, survived when Airbus A310 crashed into the Indian Ocean, killing all other 152 people on board. Rescued after 13 hours clinging to aircraft wreckage. March 6, 2003: Air Algeria Flight 6289. Youcef Djillali, a 28-year-old soldier lived after flight crashed on take-off in the southern Algerian city of Tamanrasset, killing 102 passengers and crew. March 17, 1995: Intercontinental Airlines Flight 256. Erika Delgado, nine, was the only survivor after a mid-air explosion near Cartegena, Colombia. She was thrown from the plane as it made an emergency landing that left 51 dead. August 16, 1987: Northwest Airline Flight 255. Toddler Cecelia Cichan, four, survived when all 154 other people on board - including her parents and 6-year-old brother - plus two people on the ground were killed when flight crashed after take-off in Saginaw, Michigan. January 26, 1972: JAT Yugoslav Airlines Flight 367. Flight attendant Vesna Vulovic, 22, was lone survivor when plane plummeted 33,000 feet into the snow in Czechoslovakia after a bomb exploded, killing 22 passengers and five other crew members. The cause of the crash remains a mystery. Weather conditions and visibility were good at the time and officials have ruled out possible terrorism. Investigators are considering whether clouds of volcanic ash from Iceland over North Africa played a part. But the European air traffic management agency said the ash cloud had moved into the middle of the Mediterranean and was unlikely to have affected an airliner in Libya, more than 2,000 miles to the west. In recent years the plane had undergone on-the-spot checks by European air authorities, with no serious problems reported. Libyan TV last night showed the Dutch boy, who is yet to be named, apparently conscious. He appears to have been miraculously flung to safety from the wreckage His parents both died in the crash. �It�s an absolute miracle that he got out,� a source said. �He�s been rushed to hospital in Tripoli, but it�s hard to tell what kind of condition he�s in. �The plane crashed next to the runway. It was around a metre away. 'The body of the plane completely disintegrated, meaning most people would have died straight away.� The boy's incredible escape recalls that of 14-year-old Bahia Bakari, who was the only survivor when a Yemenia Air Airbus 310 crashed into the Indian Ocean last June, killing 152. Speaking at a press conference at O.R. Tambo airport in Johannesburg, Airports Company South Africa spokesman Nicky Knapp said: 'Seven passengers were due to board another plane to Gatwick after landing in Tripoli. '32 were due to board a plane for Brussels, 42 for Dusseldorf and one for Paris. 'Eleven passengers were due to end their journey in Tripoli.' An Afriqiyah staff member in Johannesburg said the airline uses Tripoli as its hub but routes through to London, Paris and other destinations. The British Embassy in Libya confirmed a team had been dispatched to the airport in Tripoli. Deputy Consul Arvinder Vohra and local staff have been in meetings with the airline to determine victims' identities. Embassy spokesman David Clay said: 'Libyan officials informed us of the crash at 7am local time and sent representatives straight to the airport. 'They are talking to whoever they can to work out what happened and who was on board flight 8U771. Tragic: Police and rescuers examine the debris, including two empty seats, near the runway in Tripoli this morning. Much of the debris was still smoldering as it was examined by officials   A rescue worker searches through personal belongings of a passenger found among the debris today 'Everyone in the office is also working as fast as possible to get a clearer picture of the situation but the investigation is still in its early stages.' A British High Commission spokesman in Pretoria said officials in South Africa were also working on the case. He said: 'We are in constant contact with our colleagues in Tripoli.' Libyan state television showed a large field scattered with small and large pieces of plane debris. Dozens of police and rescue workers with surgical masks and gloves walked among the wreckage, some of them carrying at least one body away. They gathered small personal items such as wallets and cell phones from the wreckage. Others sifted through debris - some of it still smouldering - including a flight recorder and green seats with television screens on them. A large piece of the plane's tail was visible, bearing Afriqiyah's brightly coloured logo with the numbers '9.9.99,' a reference to the date of the founding of the African Union. Enlarge  The airport road into Tripoli - which is some 15 miles away - was this morning full of ambulances and other emergency vehicles including numerous fire engines and police cars. Weather conditions over Tripoli's international airport were good yesterday, with three-mile visibility, scattered clouds at 10,000 feet and winds of only three miles per hour. Daniel Hoeltgen, spokesman for the European Aviation Safety Agency, said Afriqiyah has undergone 10 recent safety inspections at European airports, with no significant safety findings. He said a team of French crash investigators was already on its way to Tripoli. 'We are currently talking to Airbus and with the French accident investigator BEA, which will be involved in the investigation,' said Hoeltgen. The plane's flight recorders have been recovered. Terrorism has already been ruled out as a cause of the crash. Afriqiyah Airways is not included on the European Union's list of banned airlines. The list has nearly 300 carriers deemed by the EU not to meet international safety standards. According to initial reports, the plane crashed as it neared the threshold of Tripoli International's main east-west runway, while preparing to touch down from the east. The main runway at Tripoli Airport is 3,600 yards long. According to international airport guides, it is not equipped with an Instrument Landing System. This all-weather, precision approach system guides descending planes down to the threshold of the runway. But it does have two other systems that many other airports use worldwide - a high frequency omnidirectional radio system that pilots use to navigate their aircraft, and a non-directional beacon that also helps guide planes into the airport. The BBC has reported that the Afriqiyah Airways flight from Johannesburg had been due to land at 0610 local time (0410 GMT). The airline had said earlier today that a search and rescue operation was under way. Later this morning it said that mission was over. Al Afriqiyah is a Libyan airline that started in 2001. It mainly operates on African routes, but international destinations include London, Paris, Rome and Amsterdam. If you have any thoughts concerning in which and how to use travel deals, you can contact us at our web-page.