Pilot error has been blamed in the July crash of a South Korean jetliner in dense fog near Libya's Tripoli Airport that killed 80 people, government officials said Thursday.
The Transportation Ministry said it reached the conclusion after studying flight records of the ill-fated Korean Air DC-10 with Libyan experts."A careful study of the plane's black box and flight records showed that the pilot attempted to land in conditions which were beyond his power," said Yoo Han-kyu, chief of the Seoul District Aviation Office.
The flight, which originated in Seoul and carried 119 people, crashed into an orchard after hitting the top of a building near Tripoli Airport in dense fog July 27. Eighty people, including six Libyans on the ground, were killed.
About 25 minutes before the crash, Yoo said the airport's control tower advised the pilot to divert to another airport because visibility had been reduced to 800 yards.