Belfast - A Co Derry man was one of the survivors following the plane crash off the coast of Libya in which at least 17 people died on Thursday, Gerry Moriarty reports. Shorts in Belfast, which manufactured the ill-fated SD360 turboprop aircraft, has offered to assist in the investigation into the crash.
Mr Stewart Bonar, a 59-year-old Limavady man, escaped with broken bones when the aircraft carrying 38 oil workers from Tripoli to a petrochemical plant plunged into the Mediterranean. Five people from Britain were among those who died in the crash, and another is missing. Mr Bonar's wife, Olive, said her husband was lucky to be alive. Mr Bonar contacted her by telephone and told her that he suffered a broken leg and other injuries.
Two of his friends were killed in the crash.