30 June 2009
A Filipino crew member of Yemen Airways is among the 153 people aboard the ill-fated Airbus A310 which crashed into the Indian Ocean off the nation island of Comoros. The jetliner was trying to land into Comoros amidst very bad weather when it crashed into the sea.
This is the second time that an Airbus plane has crashed into the sea. On May 31, an Air France Airbus A330-200 with 228 people on board crashed into the Atlantic Ocean after leaving Rio de Janeiro, Brazil bound for Paris, France.
The Associated Press reported that French aviation inspectors found a "number of faults" on the downed plane during a 2007 inspection. Questions were also raised as to "why passengers were put on another jet in the Yemeni capital of San'a."
These are video clips from CNN:
UPDATE
1 July 2009
An ABS-CBN article (based on an Agence France Presse report) entitled DFA checking Filipino casualty in Yemeni plane crash says this:
Reports said authorities in Yemen fear that only a 14-year-old girl passenger of the Yemeni Airbus jet survived the crash. The plane had 153 passengers."The girl, aged 14, has arrived at the El Maarouf hospital. We were told that her condition is not worrisome," Red Cross spokeswoman Ramulati Ben Ali said.
There appears to be a conflict between what Associated Press originally reported and what the CNN video interview with the Chairman of Yemenia appeared to confirm — that the sole survivor was a 5-year-old boy and this newer piece of news which says that the only survivor is a 14-year-old girl. For now, while we lack authoritative confirmation, let's hope that both of them survived.
On the matter of whether a Pinay crew person was aboard the ill-fated plane, this Agence France-Presse report carried by ABS-CBN, Pinay among crew of crashed Yemeni plane, seemed to indicate that the report may not be true after all. Sana nga!
UPDATE (13-Year-Old Girl, Bahia Bakari, is the Lone Survivor)
2 July 2009
It's been confirmed that a 13-year-old teenager and not a 5-year-old boy is the lone survivor of the Yemenia jet crash two days ago. Bahia Bakari, who was traveling on the flight with her mother was fetched from the sea while hanging on to debris. Bahia who sustained cuts to her face and a fractured collar bone is now recovering well in a hospital in Moroni, the capital of the Comoros.
Bahia's father, Kassim Bakari, who also received early news that a 5-year-old child had been rescued, was jubilant about her daughter's rescue although he could hardly believe it.
More on this amazing story of survival and of hope beyond despair from David McKenzie of CNN reporting from Nairobi, Kenya:
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