French Navy missile brought down Yemenia A-310: report
28 Oct 2009
Dubai: A missile fired by a French navy ship training in the Indian Ocean caused the Yemenia Airways crash in which 152 passengers and crew were killed, according to a Yemeni state news agency Saba report.
''Aviation experts and investigations into the flight data recorders confirmed that a rocket fired by one of the French naval ships in the region caused the disaster,'' Saba said, citing
the Almotamar.net website.
Almotamar is a Yemeni e-newspaper published by the General People Congress (GPC), according to the website.
The A310 plane from France went down in the Indian Ocean on 30 June shortly after beginning its descent towards the Comoros Islands. The aircraft was carrying mainly French and Comoran passengers.
A 13-year-old girl, found clinging to floating wreckage of the aircraft, was the only survivor.
Earlier, in September, French officials had said that investigators had found evidence indicating the crash was caused by pilot error. It was also suggested, mainly by French sources, that the aircraft wasn't safe to fly. No official explanations, however, have been provided so far for the accident.
Saba also said Yemen now plans to ask France to compensate Yemenia and the families of the crash victims.
