Thaindian News

A young child is the first survivor to be hauled from the Indian Ocean following the crash of a Yemenia Airways flight in the Comoros earlier today.

Captain Abdulkhalek al-Kadi, chairman of Yemenia Airways said, “one child is alive and we hope to find more. The child was found in the waters and was taken to a hospital”.

Comoros vice president Idi Nadhoim, said, a reconnaissance plane had earlier spotted traces of the Airbus A310-300 in the sea near the town of Mitsamiouli.

Prior to the child being found Mr. Nadhoim said, “there are a few bodies floating and there is a lot of debris floating around.”

He said the ill-fated flight had crashed as the plane approached the Hahaya airport in Moroni. The plane tried but failed to land and then performed a U-turn before it crashed.

Yemenia Air officials said the plane had 142 passengers, including three infants, and 11 crew members on board.

Ibrahim Kassim, an official with the Agency for Aviation Security and Navigation in Africa (Asecna), the regional air security body, said, search and rescue planes had spotted debris and bodies at the crash site, 5-10km (3-6miles) from the coast along its landing approach

The deputy general manager for Yemenia operations, Mohammad al-Sumairi, said, “the weather conditions were rough… strong wind and high seas. The wind speed recorded on land at the airport was 61 kilometres (38miles) an hour. There could be other factors.”

It is the second Airbus to plunge into the sea this month.

On June 1, an Air France Airbus A330-200 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean killing all 228 people on board.