Slow progress in Comoros Airbus crash rescue (3rd Roundup)

Jun 30, 2009, 14:07 GMT

Johannesburg/Paris/Sana'a - A 14-year-old girl was plucked from stormy seas off one of the Comoros islands Tuesday, after bobbing in the water for several hours following a Yemen Airways plane crash, in which 150 people were still missing, officials said.

Abdillah Mougni, secretary-general of the Ministry of Transport in Moroni, capital of the Comoros republic, said the survivor, who he initially reported was a five-year-old boy, was in fact a 14-year-old girl.

The teenager had survived in the water thanks to a safety vest and had been taken to hospital suffering from fatigue.

Two bodies of two unidentified victims had been recovered so far, he said. In total 153 people had been on board.

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, Mougni said.

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

The Airbus A310-300, carrying 142 passengers and 11 crew members, crashed between 15 and 20 kilometres off the north of Grande Comore island early Tuesday morning. A Comoran government spokesman said the pilot had tried to land at Moroni airport, as scheduled, but missed his landing because of gusting winds. The accident reportedly occurred as the plane was preparing for a second attempt.

The flight-code originated in Paris, with stops in Marseille, the Yemeni capital Sana'a and Djibouti. The passengers on the flight changed plane in Yemen from an Airbus A330 to the older A310.

Airbus officials in France reported on Tuesday that the A310 that crashed was 19 years old and had been in service with Yemenia since 1999.

   French Junior Minister for Transport Dominique Bussereau told i- tele TV news that French civil aviation authorities had kept Yemenia Airways under close surveillance and 'the A310 was examined in 2007 by the DGAC (Civil Aviation Authority) in France and a certain number of defects were noted.'

   The plane 'disappeared from French skies' after these 'very many defects were found,' Bussereau said.

But 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,' he said.

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said Tuesday that from 2011 the centralized agency would non-European airlines in order to decide whether they could use European airports

To date, national authorities are responsible for granting third- country airlines permission to use their airports.

Fishermen saw the plane go down off the coast shortly after flight controllers lost contact with it around 1:51 am (2351 GMT on Monday). Pieces of wreckage were seen floating in the water around the crash site.

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

Residents on Grande Comore reported continued bad weather and stormy seas as the rescue operation swung into high gear.

A French military transport plane arrived Tuesday afternoon with additional rescue workers and materials. Two French navy vessels were also on their way to the area but were not expected to arrive before Wednesday.

They were deployed from the neighbouring French departement of Reunion and Mayotte, a Comoran island that is still part of France.

One witness said she saw flames coming from the aircraft before it crashed, according to Comoran government spokesman Abdourahim Said Bacar. Other unconfirmed reports from Moroni said the plane had had difficulty gaining altitude after its first aborted landing.

The crash is the second tragedy involving an Airbus plane in under a month. On June 1, an Air France Airbus A330 plunged into the Atlantic with 228 people aboard.

One hotel owner in Moroni who had taken the flight several times but switched to another airline of late said the older aircraft had a reputation among Comorans for being shabby.

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