TRIPOLI: A Russian-made military cargo plane crashed on Sunday afternoon near an oil field in southern Libya, killing three people on board, according to a local official.
“Shortly after taking off from the runway of the oil field, the plane fell suddenly and crashed in a desert area where there is no civilian or oil sites,” an official in Al-Sharara oil field told Xinhua.
“The plane was on a mission to transport goods and supplies to the field workers. According to preliminary information, only a crew consisting of a pilot and assistants were on board,” the official added.
The official also said the plane was headed to M’etiga airbase in Libyan capital Tripoli, confirming that three crew members are dead and fate of the fourth member has remained been unknown so far.
Al-Sharara is the largest oil field in Libya, producing 270,000 barrels of oil per day, more than a quarter of Libya’s daily oil production.
The oil field was reopened in December 2016, after being closed by the oil installations guards for more than two years.
The field is operated by the Libyan state-owned National Oil Corporation in partnership with a consortium of Repsol, Total and OMV.
