PROVIDENCE smiled on a 10-year-old Dutch as he emerged the sole survivor yet of a Libyan plane, which crashed on approach to Tripoli airport yesterday.

The survivor, according to the Associated Press (AP), was undergoing surgery.

The jet with 104 people on board was arriving from Johannesburg, South Africa when it crashed. At the scene were scattered smouldering debris that included a large chunk of the tail painted with the airline's brightly coloured logo.