Paris Appeals Court Upholds Verdict In Yemenia Airways' 2009 Comoros Crash

 PARIS, Sept 11 (Bernama-dpa) -- A Paris appeals court on Tuesday convicted Yemenia Airways of involuntary manslaughter and injuries, 15 years after a plane crash in the African island nation of Comoros that killed 152 people, reported German news agency (dpa).

The court upheld a court's earlier judgement of the maximum possible fine of €225,000 (US$237,000) for Yemen's national airline.

The court also ordered the airline to display the judgement at Marseille and Paris airports for two months. The passengers had flown from there to the Yemeni capital Sanaa, where they boarded the ill-fated plane to Comoros.

A series of pilot errors led to the June 2009 crash of the Airbus jet in the Indian Ocean during bad weather as it approached the capital Moroni. Most of the victims were from the Comoros, but 65 were French citizens.

Only one girl, Bahia Bakari, who was 12 years’ old at the time, survived.

The accident did not come out of the blue. Yemenis had previously protested the airline's "junk planes", calling them "flying coffins" because of the condition of the aircraft used. 

One of the lawyers representing the victims' relatives, Roman Leibovici, expressed his satisfaction with the court's decision, the newspaper Le Monde reported from the courtroom. He referred to the "considerable resources" of the airline and its insurers, "who have so far done everything possible to withhold compensation".

The only survivor, who is now a student, criticised Yemenia Airways' behaviour during the first trial. "I would have wanted them to listen to us, to listen to me, to make me feel respected," said Bakari.

The then 12-year-old, who lost her mother in the crash, was only rescued from the water after spending ten hours clinging to wreckage.

-- BERNAMA-dpa