Yemeni plane crashes off Comoros, 150 on board

[Category 5]

Not a good month

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090630/wl_ ... oros_crash

[Brent]

Another nighttime water crash(likely doesn't bode well for survivors) and another Airbus.

[Gustywind]

Dark series! It's awfull! http://www.france24.com/fr/20090630-Yem ... survivants

[HURAKAN]

Very bad month for the aviation industry. My condolences to the family.

[MGC]

Hopefully there will be survivors....what is with all these Airbus planes lately?.....MGC

[captain east]

Just another thing to think about when I'm on my flight in 3 hours...

[Cyclenall]

One of the things 2009 will be remembered as (as of now at least) is the monstrous amount of plane crashes (both small and commercially) and accidents globally. I have never heard of so many occurring in one year, just ridiculous.

Let's hope this one isn't like the one earlier this month. I also just heard of another small plane crash on my local news yesterday.

[Brent]

SAN'A, Yemen – A passenger jet from Yemen with 153 people on board crashed in the Indian Ocean early Tuesday as it tried to land during heavy wind on the island nation of Comoros, a Yemeni aviation official said.

Bodies were spotted floating off the coast and a Comoros police official said three had been recovered so far. There was no word on survivors.

Yemeni civil aviation deputy chief Mohammed Abdul Qader said there were 142 passengers and a crew of 11 Yemenis on board when the plane, which had set off from the Yemeni capital of San'a, went down before landing in Moroni, on the main island of Grand Comore.

The majority of the passengers were from the Comoros islands, returning home from Paris, he said. Those on board included families with children and there were at least three babies on board, he added.

[Category 5]

Child rescued.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ml_yemen_plane_crash

[fwbbreeze]

I dont think you can, at this point, compare the two crashes just because they involved Airbus aircraft. The A310 which crashed yesterday and the AF A330 that went down in the Atlantic are two totally different aircraft. For example the A330 aircraft used GE engines while the A310 aircraft used Pratt & Whitney. I would encourage everyone to not look at the make of the aircraft as a cause for concern until all the facts come out.

fwbbreeze

[Ptarmigan]

I heard that A310 in question had many flaws in a 2007 inspection in France.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6504193.html

[fwbbreeze]

I heard that A310 in question had many flaws in a 2007 inspection in France.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6504193.html

that article does say they were not on the EU blacklist, but I am afraid this will be another example of the faults of third world aviation.

[Dionne]

I dont think you can, at this point, compare the two crashes just because they involved Airbus aircraft. The A310 which crashed yesterday and the AF A330 that went down in the Atlantic are two totally different aircraft. For example the A330 aircraft used GE engines while the A310 aircraft used Pratt & Whitney. I would encourage everyone to not look at the make of the aircraft as a cause for concern until all the facts come out.

fwbbreeze

The A330, depending on the year of manufacture had either GE, PW or RR engines. The A310 is either GE or PW.

The one common denominator in both crashes is weather. The AF A330 was flying through the ITCZ with cumulonimbus clouds approaching 50K. The Yemeni A310 had just aborted a landing during high winds, was outbound and beginning a turn for another attempt.

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

Yemen flight's black box located.......link also has a video showing the 14 year old survivor
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8128690.stm

The 14-year-old plane crash survivor recovers in hospital

One of the black box flight recorders from the Yemeni plane which crashed in the Indian Ocean on Tuesday has been located, a French official has said.

Efforts to retrieve the recorder will begin during the day, the official added, quoted by AFP news agency.

Meanwhile doctors say the only survivor of the crash, teenage girl Baya Bakari, is recovering and in no danger.

The plane, flying from the Yemeni capital Sanaa to the Comoros, came down in bad weather with 153 on board.

There were 66 French nationals among the passengers. Most of the rest were Comorans.

Most of the passengers had flown on a different Yemenia aircraft from Paris or Marseille before boarding flight IY626 in Sanaa.

"The black box's signal was located yesterday [Tuesday] at 1630 local time (1230 GMT) by an aerial patrol, 40km (25 miles) from Grande Comore," a spokeswoman for Co-operation Minister Alain Joyandet said.

Most aircraft have a flight data recorder and a cockpit voice recorder. It was not clear which of the two from the Yemeni plane had been located.

'Still hope'

A French vessel has been sent to the site to start recovery operations, she added. French rescue teams are already involved in the search for survivors.

She's a very timid girl, I never thought she would escape like that
Father of survivor Baya Bakari

Ties that bind: Comoros and France
In pictures: Yemeni plane crash
How to survive a plane crash

Apart from the 14-year-old girl found alive, no-one from the plane has been confirmed alive, and rescuers say chances of finding more survivors are slim.

AFP news agency quoted hospital sources in the Comoros capital Moroni as saying they were preparing to receive another child survivor, but Mr Joyandet later said no more survivors had been found.

Sources close to the Comoran rescue team say the only confirmed survivor, who has been named as Baya Bakari, was being treated in Moroni and her condition had improved.

The Associated Press news agency quoted her father as saying she had been travelling with her mother to the Comoros from Paris to visit family.

Kassim Bakari said she had been ejected from the plane when it came down and clung to debris for several hours until she was rescued.

"She's a very timid girl, I never thought she would escape like that," he said, describing her as "fragile" and barely able to swim.

He added that he was mourning the loss of his wife whilst overjoyed at his daughter's extraordinary escape.

Doctors at the hospital said she had cuts to her face and a fractured collarbone, but was not in danger.

"She is very calm given the shock she suffered," surgeon Ben Imani told Reuters.

Angry protest

The Yemenia Airbus 310 that crashed - photo Air Team Images
France said the plane had been banned from its airspace

The French transport ministry had earlier said the Airbus 310 plane which crashed had been banned from France because of "irregularities".

But Yemenia responded by criticising "false information and speculation about technical problems" on the plane.

Several Comoran expatriates angry with what they see as the poor state of the company's aircraft tried to stop passengers from checking in for another Yemenia flight leaving Paris Charles de Gaulle airport for Sanaa.

About 60 people failed to check in, reports said, but it was not clear how many did so as a result of the protest.

The crash was the second involving an Airbus aircraft in recent weeks. On 1 June an Air France Airbus 330 travelling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris plunged into the Atlantic, killing all 228 people on board.

[vbhoutex]

Yemen flight's black box located.......link also has a video showing the 14 year old survivor
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8128690.stm

The 14-year-old plane crash survivor recovers in hospital

One of the black box flight recorders from the Yemeni plane which crashed in the Indian Ocean on Tuesday has been located, a French official has said.

Efforts to retrieve the recorder will begin during the day, the official added, quoted by AFP news agency.

Meanwhile doctors say the only survivor of the crash, teenage girl Baya Bakari, is recovering and in no danger.

The plane, flying from the Yemeni capital Sanaa to the Comoros, came down in bad weather with 153 on board.

There were 66 French nationals among the passengers. Most of the rest were Comorans.

Most of the passengers had flown on a different Yemenia aircraft from Paris or Marseille before boarding flight IY626 in Sanaa.

"The black box's signal was located yesterday [Tuesday] at 1630 local time (1230 GMT) by an aerial patrol, 40km (25 miles) from Grande Comore," a spokeswoman for Co-operation Minister Alain Joyandet said.

Most aircraft have a flight data recorder and a cockpit voice recorder. It was not clear which of the two from the Yemeni plane had been located.

'Still hope'

A French vessel has been sent to the site to start recovery operations, she added. French rescue teams are already involved in the search for survivors.

She's a very timid girl, I never thought she would escape like that
Father of survivor Baya Bakari

Ties that bind: Comoros and France
In pictures: Yemeni plane crash
How to survive a plane crash

Apart from the 14-year-old girl found alive, no-one from the plane has been confirmed alive, and rescuers say chances of finding more survivors are slim.

AFP news agency quoted hospital sources in the Comoros capital Moroni as saying they were preparing to receive another child survivor, but Mr Joyandet later said no more survivors had been found.

Sources close to the Comoran rescue team say the only confirmed survivor, who has been named as Baya Bakari, was being treated in Moroni and her condition had improved.

The Associated Press news agency quoted her father as saying she had been travelling with her mother to the Comoros from Paris to visit family.

Kassim Bakari said she had been ejected from the plane when it came down and clung to debris for several hours until she was rescued.

"She's a very timid girl, I never thought she would escape like that," he said, describing her as "fragile" and barely able to swim.

He added that he was mourning the loss of his wife whilst overjoyed at his daughter's extraordinary escape.

Doctors at the hospital said she had cuts to her face and a fractured collarbone, but was not in danger.

"She is very calm given the shock she suffered," surgeon Ben Imani told Reuters.

Angry protest

The Yemenia Airbus 310 that crashed - photo Air Team Images
France said the plane had been banned from its airspace

The French transport ministry had earlier said the Airbus 310 plane which crashed had been banned from France because of "irregularities".

But Yemenia responded by criticising "false information and speculation about technical problems" on the plane.

Several Comoran expatriates angry with what they see as the poor state of the company's aircraft tried to stop passengers from checking in for another Yemenia flight leaving Paris Charles de Gaulle airport for Sanaa.

About 60 people failed to check in, reports said, but it was not clear how many did so as a result of the protest.

The crash was the second involving an Airbus aircraft in recent weeks. On 1 June an Air France Airbus 330 travelling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris plunged into the Atlantic, killing all 228 people on board.

The link now says "France reverses 'black box' claim". Hope they find it.