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France: Yemenia Air Black Box Not Found
14-year-old girl is sole survivor of crash; plane failed 2007 inspection
By Nick McMaster
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Posted Jul 1, 09 3:20 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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The French government has backed off reports that searchers located one of the black box flight recorders from Yemenia Air Flight 626, the BBC reports. The crash, in which a 14-year-old girl appears to be the sole survivor out of 151 passengers, occurred after the Airbus 310 had aborted its first try at landing, AFP reports. The girl, who lives in Marseilles and was traveling with her mother, suffered no serious injuries and is recovering in a hospital on the Comoros Islands. Earlier reports that a 5-year-old boy had also been rescued were incorrect.
Meanwhile, Yemenia is under fire for sending passengers out of EU airspace on an aircraft in good condition and then transferring them in the Yemeni capital to an aircraft with “a number of faults” identified in a French inspection in 2007. EU officials had come close to blacklisting Yemenia in the past but didn’t because the airline “passed the checks,” said the EU transport commissioner—who added that the commission will now “verify the blacklist.”