Dutch boy unaware of being lone Libyan plane crash survivor

TRIPOLI - Nine-year-old Dutch boy Ruben van Assouw managed to make it out of the crashed Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771 with two broken legs, but what he does not know still is that he is the only one to have survived out of the 104 on board.

The boy’s aunt and uncle, who traveled to Tripoli from the Netherlands to bring him home, visited his hospital room on Thursday morning.

He immediately recognized them and smiled when they came in, according to Dutch officials.

“His memory is good: as soon as his relatives walked in he smiled, and was happy to see them,” Dr. Siddiq ben Dilla was quoted by a foreign news agency, as saying.

Dutch Foreign Ministry official Ed Kronenburg said the boy remains dizzy from the after-affects of anesthesia.

“He hasn’t been told yet, as far as we know, that his parents died,” he added.

He may go home as soon as the weekend.

Dutch officials said the family has asked the media to leave them alone, despite the global interest in and sympathy for the miracle survivor. (ANI)