CNBC – Thousands of Libyans celebrated the liberation of the eastern city of Benghazi from the rule of Muammar Gaddafi, who was reported to have sent a plane to bomb them on Wednesday as he clung to power.

The crew bailed out of the aircraft after it took off from the capital Tripoli. It then crash-landed south-west of Benghazi, Libya’s Quryna newspaper cited a military source as saying, averting a fresh tragedy in almost a week of bloodshed.