Downed plane had safety issues

European aviation authorities had raised safety questions two years ago about the Yemeni Airbus 310 jetliner that plunged into rough seas yesterday with 153 people aboard on its approach to the island nation of Comoros in the Indian Ocean.

A 14-year-old girl plucked from the waves and debris appeared to be the lone survivor as military boats, planes and rescue teams fanned out along the coast off the Comoro capital, Moroni. The Airbus, with a crew of 11, was flying through strong winds as it prepared to land at the city's Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport hours after leaving the Yemeni capital, San'a.

The plane, which lost radio contact with the control tower and vanished about 12 miles off shore, was carrying 66 French nationals and other passengers including Comorans, a Palestinian and a Canadian.

Flight 626 originated in Paris and stopped in Marseille before traveling on to San'a, where passengers switched to the Airbus 310-300. That jet, which was 19 years old and operated by Yemen's national carrier, Yemenia, had raised suspicions earlier among European safety inspectors.

Defects

In 2007, French transportation authorities barred the plane from French airports following a safety review that found problems with technical equipment.

Inspectors "noticed a certain number of defects. Since then the plane had not returned to France," Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau was quoted as telling French TV. "The company (Yemenia) was not on the blacklist but was subject to stricter checks on our part and was due to be interviewed shortly by the European Union's safety committee."

French authorities did not go into detail about the nature of the defects, but Yemeni officials insisted they were minor.

EU cites problems

In 2008, the European Union asked Yemenia to take "corrective actions" to improve safety performance. It was unclear what those actions were, but at a news conference yesterday, EU Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani said Yemenia had been reviewed by safety authorities and the company was not banned from operating in Europe.

"The airline wasn't on the (EU) blacklist because it had passed the checks," said Tajani. "After today's accident, we shall be contacting the company" to reconsider whether to add it to the list.

Tajani added that the flight originated in Paris with an Airbus 330 that met European safety regulations. He said the switching of planes in San'a was beyond the EU's jurisdiction. "We cannot control what happens outside the European Union," he said.

In a statement, Airbus said the jet that went down had logged 51,900 flight hours. Yemen's Transport Minister Khaled Ibrahim al-Wazeer told Reuters that the plane was checked in Yemen with experts from Airbus in May and that the plane was in line with international standards.

Survivor among bodies

The Yemen News Agency, Saba, said preliminary indications were that bad weather, including severe gusts of 71 mph, caused the crash. Bussereau told reporters that unconfirmed information suggested the plane pulled out of its first landing approach and was attempting a second when it crashed.

The bodies of at least five victims have been recovered, according to Yemeni authorities. The 14-year-old survivor was reportedly traveling with her mother back to her village in Comoros. A rescue worker interviewed on Europe 1 radio said the girl was spotted swimming in choppy water amid bodies and debris. Earlier reports had described the survivor as a 5-year-old boy.

"Bodies were seen floating on the surface of the water, and a fuel slick was also spotted about 16 or 17 nautical miles from Moroni," senior Yemeni civil aviation official Mohammad Abdel Kader told reporters in San'a. "Weather conditions were bad. The sea was rough." (next page »)