The Parisian examining magistrates in charge of the investigation into the crash of an Airbus A310 of Yemenia Airways off the Comoros which left 152 dead in June 2009 ordered a criminal trial for the airline.
In their order dated November 6, Yemenia Airways is dismissed for "manslaughter and unintentional injury resulting in total incapacity for work for less than three months," said a judicial source, confirming information given by the Association of Families of Victims of the air disaster (AFVCA).
A 12-year-old teenager, the only survivor
In 2009, passengers on a flight to Moroni, departing from Paris or Marseille aboard a recent Airbus A330, had changed aircraft in Sanaa, Yemen, for a 19-year-old A310.
The plane crashed at sea on June 30, 2009 off Moroni, the capital of the Comoros, with 142 passengers, including 66 French, and 11 crew members on board.
The only survivor, Bahia Bakari, a 12-year-old teenager, hung for eleven hours on a piece of debris from the aircraft before being rescued.
"Often, faced with a test, I think back to the crash," she confided a few months ago to the Parisian, when the Paris prosecutor's office had just requested a trial.
The black boxes had been found and the French Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) had deciphered them but the investigation stalled, the French authorities blaming their Comorian counterparts for their non-cooperation.
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The families of the victims have also repeatedly denounced the "slowness" of the procedure, accusing Yemen of pressing so that its national company is not questioned.
In June 2013, a technical investigation report published in Moroni concluded that the accident was due "to an unsuitable action by the crew" during "an unstable maneuver".
Sentenced to pay 30 million euros in damages in 2015
According to lawyers for the families, the airline is criticized for maintaining this night flight to Moroni, even though the weather conditions at this time of year are unfavorable, with strong winds, and there was a malfunction of the airport signage.
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In 2015, the Aix-en-Provence tribunal de grande instance ordered Yemenia to pay a total amount of more than 30 million euros in damages to more than 500 beneficiaries of 70 of the 152 victims.