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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, Newser Staff

Posted Jul 1, 2009 3:20 AM CDT

(Newser) – 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.”

[Images (4)]

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This image released by the French Navy shows Patrol Ship P400 "La Rieuse" P690 on Jan. 23, 2004 at an undisclosed location. "La Rieuse" is currently searching for survivors of Yemenia IY6126 (AP Photo/Ecpad/French Navy/HO)

Unidentified relatives of passengers react during a statement for the Comoros Islands community at La Courneuve, on the outskirts of Paris, France, Tuesday June 30, 2009. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

Relatives wait for news outside the El Maruf Hospital in Moroni, Comoros Tuesday, June 30, 2009. A Yemenia Airbus jet with 153 people on board crashed into the Indian Ocean on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Sayyid Azim)

Some hundreds of Comorans gather outside the El Maruf Hospital in Moroni, Tuesday, June 30, 2009, after news that a Yemenia Airbus passenger plane crashed into the Indian Ocean. (AP Photo/Sayyid Azim)

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This A310 is a plane that has posed problems for a long time. It is absolutely inadmissible that Yemenia played with the lives of its passengers this way. The company's responsibility is considerable.
- Stephane Salord, French consul to Yemen

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France: Yemenia Air Black Box Not Found