A Yemeni jetliner with more than 150 people aboard has crashed in the Indian Ocean off the island nation of Comoros, aviation officials in Yemen said Tuesday.
The jet was en route to Moroni, the capital of Comoros, from Yemen’s capital Sanaa when it crashed about an hour before reaching its destination, officials from the national airline Yemenia said. There was no immediate news of the fate of those on board. Yemenia Flight 626 left Sanaa at 9:30 p.m. for what was expected to be a 4½-hour flight. The airline has three regular flights per week to Moroni, off the east coast of Africa about 2,900 kilometers (1,800 miles) south of Yemen. Most of the 143 passengers aboard the Airbus A310 were Comoran, an official at Sanaa’s international airport said. The aircraft also carried a crew of 11, for a total of 154 people on board. There has been no indication of foul play behind the crash, the officials said. The crash is the second involving an Airbus jet in a month. On June 1, an Air France Airbus A330 crashed off Brazil while en route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Paris, France. All 228 aboard are presumed dead. The cause remains under investigation.
