Airbus with 153 on board crashes into Indian Ocean

A desperate search was underway last night after a Yemeni airliner with 153 people on board crashed in bad weather in the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros.

The Airbus 310, which belonged to the Yemeni state carrier Yemenia, was coming in to land on the main island, Grande Comoro, when it disappeared from radar screens.

As the first bodies were recovered from the site of the crash early today, a United Nations official at the airport said the control tower had lost contact with the plane after receiving notification that it was on its landing approach.

The plane, carrying 11 crew and 142 mainly French and Comoran passengers including three babies, left Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport on Monday and travelled to Marseille, then on to Sanaa in Yemen before heading towards Moroni, the capital of Comoros. It was due to land at 0230 local time (0030 BST).

"We still do not have information about the reason behind the crash or survivors," said Mohammad al-Sumairi, deputy general manager for Yemenia operations.

"The weather conditions were rough; strong wind and high seas. The wind speed recorded on land at the airport was 61 km (38 miles) an hour. There could be other factors," he said.

Two French military aircraft and a French ship were went to the area from the Indian Ocean islands of Mayotte and Reunion, the director general of Moroni International Airport, Hadji Madi Ali, said.

The accident is the second this month involving an Airbus. On June 1 an Airbus 330 ooperated by Air France crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil, killing all on board.

Ibrahim Kassim, a representative from regional air security body the Agency for Aviation Security and Navigation in Africa (ASECNA), said the plane had probably come down 5-10km (three to six miles) from the coast.

"We think the crash is somewhere along its landing approach," Mr Kassim said. "The weather is really not very favourable. The sea is very rough," he said.

Yemenia, which is 51 percent owned by the Yemeni government and 49 percent owned by the Saudi Arabian government, has two Airbus 330-200s in its fleet as well as four Airbus 310-300s and four Boeing 737-800s, according to its website.

The Comoros, which lies 400 km (250 miles) off the south-east coast of Africa, covers three small volcanic islands, Grande Comore, the main island, Anjouan and Moheli, in the Mozambique channel, 300 km (190 miles) northwest of Madagascar and a similar distance east of the African mainland.