Yemen - The tough weather may be the main reason behind the Yemenia airbus 310 crash and not what some sources claima that it is the length of the flight and that the airplane was in an excellent condition, said Mohammed Abdul-Rahman, Yemenia Airlines spokesperson.
A 5-yearl old child was found alive among 93 dead bodies picked up from the Indian Ocean where a Yemeni airbus plane crashed early Tuesday with 153 people on board, said Abdul Rahman, spokesman of the Yemenia and deputy chairman of the General Authority of Yemeni Civil Aviation.
In a press conference held in Sana'a, Abdul Rahman, said that 93 dead bodies including 26 French, 54 Comoros, a Palestinian and a Canadian and the 11-member crew, were recognized.
The crew included six Yemenis, two Moroccan stewardesses, and three other stewardesses: one Indonesian, Ethiopian, and Pilipino. The Yemeni pilot was identified as Khaled Hajeb and his assistant Ali Atef and engineer Ali Salem Al Qubati.
"A survivor was found in a state of shock," said Adul Rahman, without mentioning what national he was.
Unconfirmed information says here the survivor was the captain Khaled Hajeb, who was born in the city of Aden in 1964. Hajeb, who was among the hostages in Mombai, last November, is a father of three children, two daughters and son.
About the reasons behind the accident, the spokesman for the Yemenia asked the journalists to wait for the results of the investigations.
The official said that the stricken airbus A300-310 entered into service 18 years ago.
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 sources said the crashed plane flew Monday from Paris with 59 passengers on board to Marseille, where it took 59 passengers. Then, it flew to Cairo to take 11 passengers, and three from Jeddah and only one passenger from Dubai.
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 French authorities said the Yemeni carrier had been under surveillance and that problems had been reported with the jet.
However, Mohammed Al Sumairi, deputu director of the 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 conditions of weather were likely behind the crash.
Yemen sent a team of investigation to Moroni under the chairmanship of the The chairman of the General Authority of Civil Aviation and board chairman of the Yemenia. The Minister of transportation, Khaled Al Wazeer, is chairing a crisis cell at Saan'a international airport.
The Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh expressed condolences families of victims and to the Comoros and French Presidents on the accident.
The fleet of Yemenia, owned by the Yemeni government and Saudi government 51 %, 49 % respectively, has about 16 jets including four airbus A300-310 and six relatively news airbus and the rest are Boeings.
The Yemenia Airbus 310 crashed in the Indian Ocean before 11 miles of landing near the port of Moroni of 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 is not helping to look for more remaining passengers or their bodies.
The authorities have identified the nationalities of 93 passengers in addition to the crew of the airplane and part of the airplane wreckage has been recovered. Among the nationalities identified were 26 Frenchmen, 54 Comorian, 6 Yemenis, a Canadian, a Philippines, an Indonesian, two Moroccan, and an Ethiopian. ا
Authorities in Islands of Comoros have found some bodies but no details until now about the number of survivors and we are in constant contact with them for more details," said Mohammed Abdul-Qader, deputy Chairman of Civil Aviation and Meteorological Authority at Yemeni. The crew of crashed airplane consists of 6 Yemenis, two Moroccan women, an Indonesian woman, an Ethiopian woman and a Philippines woman.
Abdul-Qader said that the velocity of wind was 61 km per hour. There were 142 passengers along with a crew of 11 onboard crashed. 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.
There were 66 French passengers onboard. Yemeni authorities have formed a committee headed by Minister of Transportation to follow up with the search and rescue teams.
The search for the Yemenis crashed airplane only started at 6:00 am Tuesday morning that is five hours after it crashed.
The Yemenia Airways is the national airline of Yemen, with 51 percent share by the Yemen government and 49 percent by the government of Saudi Arabia
Tuesday’s plane crash is the worst accident in the history of Yemenia Airlines, records showed. The airline was founded in 1961. This crash is the third incident of Yemenia. A Boeing 727-200 lost at Asmara International Airport in Asmara, Eritrea in August 2001. . In June 2000, the third Boeing plane lost at Khartoum International Airport in Sudan's capital Khartoum
More details to be followed.