Libyan military plane crashes in Tunisia

2014-02-21 10

A Libyan military plane carrying medical patients crashed Friday near Tunisia's capital, killing an Islamist official in Libya's government and ten other passengers.

Six crew members as well as the patients and their companions died.

(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) AFIF GOUIDER, CHIEF OF CIVIL GUARD IN GROMBALIA, SAYING:

"We had hoped to arrive here as fire took hold, but the airplane was fully ablaze when we reached the crash site. We found out, after extinguishing the fire, that there were staff and another group onboard."

It is the second crash involving a military plane in North Africa in two weeks.