Sole 'miracle' crash survivor

2009-06-30 22:09

Johannesburg / Sana'a - A 14-year-old girl was plucked from stormy seas off the Comoros islands on Tuesday, several hours after a Yemenia Airways plane crashed with 153 people on board, but officials said they held out little hope of finding any other survivors.

Abdillah Mougni, secretary-general of the Ministry of Transport in Moroni, capital of the Comoros republic, said the survivor was a 14-year-old girl, not a five-year-old boy as initially reported.

The teenager, who was being described as a "miracle" child, was unconscious when she was found by a Comoran patrol boat bobbing in the water in a safety vest. She was reanimated and taken to hospital suffering from extreme fatigue, Mougni said.

Four bodies of four unidentified victims had been recovered so far by Comoran and French rescue teams, he said.

The Airbus A310-300 flight IY626 from Yemen's capital Sana'a, carrying 142 passengers and 11 crew, crashed about 15km off the north of Grande Comore island in the early hours of Tuesday.

Gusting winds

A Comoran government spokesperson said the pilot had tried to land at Moroni airport, as scheduled, missed his landing because of gusting winds and was preparing for a second attempt.

The flight originated in Paris in a different aircraft which had also stopped in Marseille.

As night fell on rough seas, the search for the wreckage and victims was called off until Wednesday morning. The US army was due to come to the aid of Comoran authorities and the French military with extra helicopters and divers. There was "practically no chance" of finding more survivors, Mougni said.

Meanwhile, a team of inspectors from Yemenia Airways and Yemen's civil aviation authority had arrived in Moroni and a joint investigation into the cause of the crash had begun amid questions over the safety of the aircraft.

The French junior minister for transport, Dominique Bussereau, told Parliament the plane had been banned from French territory "a few years" ago.

"A few years ago, we banned this plane from national territory because we believed it presented a certain number of irregularities in its technical equipment," he said.

Flight controllers lost contact with the plane at 01:51 local time. Fishermen saw the plane crash in the ocean shortly afterwards. Pieces of wreckage were seen floating in the water at the site.

Most of the passengers were believed to be Comorans living in France. Paris and the port city of Marseille are home to many migrants from the impoverished former French colony. France said 66 passengers were French - a group that could include Comorans with dual nationality.

The passengers changed plane in Yemen from an Airbus A330 to the 19-year-old A310 aircraft, which had been in service with Yemenia since 1999.

No technical problems

In an interview with France 24 television, Ali Sumari, assistant director of Yemen Airlines, insisted: "The aircraft was technically healthy."

"It took off without any technical problems."

The crash is the second tragedy involving an Airbus plane since an Air France Airbus A330 travelling between Brazil and France plunged into the Atlantic Ocean on June 1 with 228 people aboard.

The European Union responded on Tuesday by proposing a global blacklist of airlines that do not meet minimum safety standards.

A French military transport plane arrived on Tuesday afternoon in Moroni with additional divers, medical staff and materials from the neighbouring French department of Reunion.

A French navy patrol boat and a frigate were also on their way to the area, but were not expected to arrive before Wednesday.

One hotel owner in Moroni who had taken the flight from Paris with Yemenia several times but recently switched to another airline, said the aircraft had a reputation among Comorans for being shabby.

The Comoros islands, one of the world's tiniest states, are located between Madagascar and Mozambique, off south-eastern Africa.

Comorans living in France often return home around this time for holidays or for weddings. The atmosphere in Moroni was sombre as dozens of family members waited anxiously for news of their loved ones at the airport.

"A whole nation is in mourning," said government spokesperson Adourahmin Said Bacar.

- Sapa-DPA