The cause of the crash was not clear yet, the airport authorities said, adding that the weather conditions were good in Tripoli on Wednesday morning.

This image from Libyan television shows a section of the fuselage from the Afriqiyah's flight 771 amid the wreckage Wednesday May 12, 2010. Afriqiyah Airways said in a statement there were 93 passengers and 11 crews aboard the plane, which crashed at Tripoli airport early Wednesday morning. [Xinhua photo]

Local online newspaper Quryna quoted what it described as reliable sources as saying that the pilot had contacted the control tower to ask for emergency services shortly before the crash due to a malfunction at the plane, a claim denied by Afriqiyah official Mohamed al-Mesheikhi.

The paper also quoted sources at the airport as saying that the air control asked the pilot not to land due to visibility difficulties. However, there was no official response to that report.

Meanwhile, the Chinese embassy in Tripoli confirmed that there were no Chinese passengers on board the crashed plane in Libya.

Ma Shaoyi, a senior official in the Chinese embassy in Tripoli, told Xinhua that no Chinese citizen was on board the crashed plane this morning.

Dutch tourist organization ANWB said that there were 62 Dutch aboard the crashed Airbus in Libya, among whom 61 were killed.

The Libyan airline offered to give families of the victims free flights to Libya. "Afriqiyah Airways will offer transportation, assistance and accommodation to those concerned," it said in a statement.

"The Libyan immigration authorities will grant the visa upon arrival," it added.

Meanwhile, Airbus said in a statement that it regrets to confirm that an Airbus A-330/320 operated by Afriqiyah Airways was involved in the accident.

The ill-fated plane was delivered from the production line in September 2009, a statement by the planemaker said. "The aircraft had accumulated approximately 1,600 flight hours in some 420 flights."

The Libyan airline was founded in April 2001 and runs a fleet of Airbus planes.

Wednesday's crash was the deadliest in Libya since a Libyan Arab Airlines plane crashed on Dec. 22, 1992, near Tripoli airport, causing a death toll of 157.