Missile behind 'Off-Comoros Crash'

SANA'A, Oct. 24 (Saba) – A rocket has been blamed
for the crash of a Yemenia jetliner into the Indian Ocean in late June, Almotamar
website
said Saturday.

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 in which more 152 passengers and crew members were killed, the website
cited informed sources as saying. Under these crucial outcomes, Yemen intends to ask
France
to compensate the Yemenia Airways Company and the families of the victims. After the
tragedy, which took place off the Comoros Islands, reports quoted Comorian officials
as accusing the French Naval Ships of attacking the airplane while conducting a
military exercise in the region. A Comorian official then said that France's envoy
to Comoros
had told them French warships that belonged to the French Fleet were found in the
crash site a day before the crash. A missile might hit the airbus A300, the French
diplomat
was quoted as saying then. On June 30, the airplane plunged into the Indian Ocean
killing all who were onboard except a French teenager. The flight data recorders
were retrieved
by a U.S. ship equipped with an underwater robot on August 30, two months after the
fall and taken for the Paris-based investigator panel. The panel included Yemeni,
French
and Comorian interrogators. The Yemenia Airways compensated the angry families of
the victims, about € 20.000 each. FR