Thirteen bodies have washed up on the Tanzanian island of Mafia (map), along with debris, and they are thought to be those of victims of the Comoros archipelago crash of a Yemeni airliner in 1 July. Officials say DNA tests will be needed to identify them. The island is south of Dar es Salaam, not far from the mainland. BBC
Update 07:30 Investigators announced 5 July they had located the two flight recorders of the Yemenia Airbus A 310 flight that crashed into the sea 30 June with 153 people on board. A 13 year-old girl surived that crash with a broken collarbone. In Paris, France, thousands of Comoran residents marched peacefully 5 July to remember the victims and called for the Comoran government to withdraw the airline’s permission to fly to the archipelago. BEA, BBC and background on the islands from April 2009, New York Times
Update 07:53 Rescuers searching among the debris of the doomed Yemenia Airbus pulled a 14-year-old girl from the sea alive 30 June. Her father, in Paris, has spoken to her on the phone, reports AP (Fre) and says she felt nothing, but was ejected and found herself in the water next to the plane. She spent 12 hours in the water and is being treated for hypothermia. Her father describes her as extremely shy, fragile, and says she barely knows how to swim.
Brussels, Belgium (GenevaLunch) – The European Union’s transport commissioner, Antonio Tajani, called for a worldwide blacklist of unsafe airlines, at a press conference in Brussels Tuesday morning 30 June, following the crash of a Yemeni airlines Airbus near the Comoros Islands.
Update 12:06
AFP reports one survivor and three bodies have been found
An Airbus A310 with 143 passengers and 11 crew on board has crashed into the Indian Ocean a few kilometres short of its scheduled landing in the Comoros islands, northwest of Madagascar. The Yemenia airlines flight was en route from the Yemeni capital of Sanaa to Moroni in the Comoros, normally a 4-1/2 hour flight. Sixty-seven of the passengers began their journey at Charles de Gaulles airport in Paris or Marseilles. The weather in the area has not been good for several days, an official in Sanaa told the BBC. Bodies and debris have been found in the area and a search is underway, with France sending ships and planes from nearby Reunion to help. BBC, CNN, Le Monde
Ed. note: the Air France A447 flight that disappeared over the Atlantic 1 June was an Airbus A330.
