A Paris court on Wednesday convicted Yemen’s national airline of negligent manslaughter and injuries in a 2009 crash that killed almost everyone on board except for a 12-year-old girl who miraculously survived.
Yemenia Airways was ordered to pay the maximum fine of 225,000 euros and pay 1 million euros to two victims’ associations for damages and costs.
Their leaders did not attend the hearings, blaming the civil war raging in their country.
Flight Yemenia 626 was on approach to Moroni, the capital of the Comoros region located between Mozambique and Madagascar, on June 29, 2009, after departing from the airport in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.
Among the 142 passengers and 11 crew members were 66 French nationals who were bound for the French overseas territory of Mayotte, part of the Comoros archipelago.
Just before 11:00 p.m., the Airbus A310 crashed into the Indian Ocean with engines running at full throttle, killing everyone on board except Bahia Bakari, then just 12 years old.
Investigators and experts found there was nothing wrong with the plane, instead blaming “improper actions by the crew during the approach to Moroni Airport that caused them to lose control.”
Prosecutors accused the company of “patchy pilot training programs” and continued to fly to Moroni at night despite several non-functioning landing lights.
Although the airline complied with all regulations, there were “two cases of negligence directly related to the accident,” the presiding judge said at the verdict.
She criticized the continued night flights to Moroni despite light failures and the use of a co-pilot with “weak points” in his training.
“The negligences committed show an insufficient safety and responsibility culture at the airline,” she said.
The airline’s lawyers said they would appeal the decision.
– ‘relief’ –
The sole survivor of the crash, Bahia Bakari, was en route from Paris to a wedding in the Comoros with her mother, who died in the crash.
After passing out after the plane hit the water, she found herself surrounded by debris in the sea, where she drifted for 12 hours before being rescued.
“It’s a relief to hear that the judiciary has found the airline guilty,” Bakari told reporters at the Paris courthouse.
“It’s not going to change my story, it’s affected me and will affect me throughout my life, but it’s a relief because I’ve never openly said I feel guilty about the airline,” she said.
Bakari, now 26, shared her experiences during the trial last May and June and has also written a book called I Am Bahia, The Wonder Girl.
Around 560 people had joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs, many of them from the Marseille region in southern France, where many of the victims live.
A video transmission to the southern port city was set up for their benefit, allowing them to follow part of the proceedings.
