Yemenia crew (Yemen national airline) was blamed this Tuesday for its crash over the Comoros islands in 2009. On June 30th, 2009 a Yemenia Airbus heading to Comoros fell into the sea a few miles short of its destination, bringing down with it its147 passengers and crew members. All but one 12-year old girl survived the devastating accident, Bahia Bakari, a Franco-Comoran national.
Until this point the airline held an unblemished record.
Four years after the crash the investigative team in charge of identifying the causes of the crash established that "the accident is due to an unsuitable act by the crew" during "an un-stabilized maneuver."
It is important to note that when back in 2009 French Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau hinted that Yemenia had failed to conform to international standards by allowing sub-standard planes in the air, Yemen then-Transport Minister Khaled Ibrahim Alwazir, immediately called for a third party to investigate the incident, suspecting bias.
In June, in prevision of the publication of the probe report, Transport Minister Waed Batheeb old the press he would tirelessly work toward lifting the shroud of darkness surrounding Flight 626 tragedy, warning that Yemen would neither rest not tire before those responsible are held accountable for their crimes.
Far from sharing France's belief that the fault was technical due to poor maintenance, Yemen suspects that foul play was at work, and that rather than an accident the Airbus was taken down; a theory which has yet to be substantiated by hard facts.