No bodies found, investigations of Yemenia crashed airbus continue, al-Wazeer

No bodies were recovered from the passengers that were onboard the Yemenia airbus 310 crashed last Tuesday, said Khaled Ibrahim al-Wazeer, Minister of Transportation in a press conference held last Thursday at Sana’a Airport. He added that Yemenia Airways planes are subject to comprehensive inspection in European airports in addition to the periodical inspection by the General Authority of Yemeni Civil Aviation, said al-Wazeer who headed to Paris to look at the issue of the crashed airplane with French counterparts. 

 He added that the remarks on the crashed airplane two years ago were tackled completely. "These comments were made two years ago and they have nothing to do with safety, but they were about the decoration and recreation in the passengers’ cabin, including the seats, the TV screens and the monitors, insuring that these comments were addressed at that time," said al-Wazeer. The minister stressed that all the plane’s technical procedures’ certification and safety measures were excellent, and the history of Yemeni Airways for more than forty years show the safety aspects and procedures applied by them.

He said that the last technical check the plane underwent was at the beginning of last May under the supervision of Airbus Company representative, turning attention to the fact that Yemenia Airways has obtained an operation and safety certificate from the International Air Aviation Union. He said that any prior judgment on the airplane accident before the end of investigations done by joint committees from Yemen, France and Comoros is wrong.

 He warned media outlets that report false information saying that the ministry has the right to sue any media outlet that aim to defame the reputation of Yemenia  airways. He denied that there is a French attack against Yemenia saying that Yemeni-French relationships are very good. Al-Wazeer also told reporters that according to the French search and rescue teams the wreckages of the crashed plane were found at 2000 meters deep in the Indian Ocean adjacent to the Comorian coasts. 

A Yemeni diver group from the Special Forces headed early on Thursday for the Comorian capital, Moroni to participate in the search and rescue operations for the remaining passengers of the Yemeni airliner. crashed off the Comorian coasts. About 114 passengers, most of them Comorian, traveled in the same flight that came from Paris, France, with about 87 passengers.  The Higher Committee for Aviation Accidents' spokesman Mohammed Abdul-Qader announced on Wednesday that another technical team will accompany the diver group to take part in the investigation of the airplane crash.

He said that French and American planes are participating in the search and rescue operations.  Except for a 14-year French girl, there have been no new confirmations of survivors, as some media outlets have reported, Abdul-Qader said.  He announced the nationalities of 153 passengers aboard the crashed airliner, saying that 75 were Comorian, 65 French, a Canadian, and a Palestinian as well as the 11-memebr crew of the plane, who were 6 Yemenis, two Moroccans, an Indonesian, an Ethiopian and a Philippine.

On the other hand, Chairman of the Board of the Yemenia Airways company Abdul-Kaliq al-Qadi has announced that the company would give a preliminary compensation amounted to € 20 thousands for each family of its plane crash’s victims.  In a press conference held on Wednesday at Sana'a International Airport, al-Qadi said that Yemenia aircrafts will transfer a passenger from each family's victim to Moroni City in order to follow-up the search and rescue efforts for their families. 

He also reaffirmed that the crashed aircraft had no technical faults and had undergone maintenance before taking off from Sana'a Airport, in addition to receiving a comprehensive inspection two months ago under the supervision of the manufacturer, Airbus Company. In the early hours of Tuesday, a Yemeni airplane plunged into the Indian Ocean off the Comorian coasts. It was carrying 153 passengers including three infants and a crew of 11.   The Yemeni pilot was identified as Khaled Hajeb. His assistant was identified as Ali Atef, and the engineer was identified as Ali Salem al-Qubati.

 However, Mohammed Al Sumairi, deputy director of Yemenia, said it was inspected only last month. "The plane was inspected comprehensively on May 2nd 2009, according to the international standards," he told reporters in Sana'a. On his part, Mohammed Omar, chairman of the syndicate of engineers of Yemenia said, "The long trip and age of the plane has nothing to do with the accident.”  Omar said the bad weather conditions were likely behind the crash. The Minister of transportation, Khaled Al Wazeer, is chairing a crisis cell at Sana'a international airport. According to well-informed sources, the Airbus, which crashed early Tuesday while flying from Sana'a airport to Moroni airport in Comoros, flew seven times since Monday 29th June, 2009.

The crash happened in the seventh flight IY626 which took off at 9:45 PM from Sana'a to Moroni with 153 passengers on board, mostly from France and Comoros. The airports officials said the plane disappeared from radars screens at 1:50 am Tuesday. The fleet of  Yemenia, owned by the Yemeni government and Saudi government,  51 % and 49 %  respectively,  has about  16 jets, including four airbus A300-310 and six  relatively news airbuses. The rest of the aircraft are all Boeings.    

   The Yemenia Airbus 310 crashed in the Indian Ocean 11 miles before it was supposed to land near the port of Moroni in the Comorian capital carrying 153 passengers. Last contact with the airplane was at 1:53 am Tuesday, said a source at the Yemeni airlines. The source said that the high waves and tough weather are not helping the search for the remaining passengers or their bodies. Abdul-Qader said that the velocity of wind was 61 km per hour. There were 142 passengers along with a crew of 11 onboard the flight.

The airbus A310-300 was en route from Yemen to the Island of Comoros and carrying French and Comorian people. Preliminary reports said the cause of the crash was tough weather.  Yemeni authorities have formed a committee headed by Minister of Transportation to follow up with the search and rescue teams.  The search for the Yemeni crashed airplane only started at 6:00 am Tuesday morning, five hours after it crashed.  Tuesday’s plane crash is the worst accident in the history of Yemenia Airways, records showed. Yemenia was founded in 1961.

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