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Yemenia Flight 626

From Alfawiki
Yemenia
IndustryAirline
Founded1962
Headquarters
Sana'a
,
Yemen
Key people
Khaled Hajeb (Captain, deceased)
ProductsAir transport services
Websitewww.yemenia.com

Yemenia Flight 626 involved an Airbus A310-324 operated by Yemenia on a scheduled international service between Sana'a and Moroni, Comoros. On 30 June 2009, during its approach to Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport, the aircraft crashed, resulting in 152 deaths among the 153 people on board. The lone survivor, a 12-year-old girl named Bahia Bakari, was discovered clinging to debris after drifting in the water for thirteen hours and was released from hospital care on 23 July 2009.

The official investigation concluded that the accident was caused by improper flight control inputs by the crew, leading to an aerodynamic stall, further aggravated by their failure to react appropriately to cockpit warnings. This tragedy stands as one of the most fatal involving an Airbus A310.

Aircraft

The plane involved was an Airbus A310-324, a twin-engine wide-body jet, bearing registration 7O-ADJ and manufactured in 1990 (serial number 535). At the time of the crash, it had accumulated 53,587 flight hours across 18,129 cycles.

Owned by the International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC), the aircraft initially entered service with Air Liberté on 30 May 1990. Following leases to several carriers, it was leased to Yemenia in September 1999, re-registered as 7O-ADJ, and remained under their operation until the accident.

Dominique Bussereau, French Secretary of State for Transport, stated that the aircraft underwent inspection in 2007 by the French Directorate General for Civil Aviation, which identified multiple defects. However, since then, it had not returned to France and was not subject to further inspections by French authorities.

Flight history

The majority of passengers boarded Yemenia Flight 749 (operated by an Airbus A330-200) departing from Paris, with a stopover in Marseille to pick up additional passengers and crew members. Upon arrival at Sana'a International Airport, these passengers transferred to the Airbus A310 for Flight 626, which was scheduled to land at Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport in Moroni at approximately 2:30 am local time on 30 June.

The flight deck team consisted of Captain Khaled Hajeb (44), First Officer Ali Atef (50), and Flight Engineer Ali Salem—all Yemeni nationals. The cabin crew included three Yemenis, one Filipino, two Moroccans, one Ethiopian, and one Indonesian.

Captain Hajeb had been employed by Yemenia since 1989 and had served as an A310 captain since 2005. He had logged a total of 7,936 flight hours (with 5,314 on the A310), including 25 previous flights to Moroni. First Officer Atef joined Yemenia in 1980 and qualified on the A310 in 2004; he had amassed 3,641 flight hours (3,076 on the A310) with thirteen earlier flights to Moroni.

Accident

The incident took place at night over the northern coastline of Grande Comore, Comoros, above the Indian Ocean just minutes from the airport. The aircraft was executing an approach to runway 02 followed by a visual circle-to-land maneuver for runway 20. During this procedure, the pilots failed to maintain stable altitude and attitude; as a result, the plane stalled and crashed into the sea. According to an unnamed United Nations official, air traffic control received a landing notification before all communications were lost.

An unusually strong cold front generated wind gusts reaching , causing light to moderate turbulence. Mohammed Abdul Qader, deputy head of Yemeni civil aviation, reported wind speeds of at touchdown time. Yemeni authorities excluded any criminal involvement.

This crash marked Yemenia's third accident; prior incidents involved runway excursions without loss of life, although one aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Search and recovery

The Comorian authorities reported the absence of maritime rescue resources. The search operation for Flight 626 was launched with the involvement of two French military aircraft and a ship from Réunion and Mayotte. The Comoros islands consist of Grande Comore, Anjouan, Moheli, and Mayotte—an overseas territory of France. Wreckage was discovered near Mitsamiouli, with human remains and debris recovered from the sea.

Survivor found

A 12-year-old girl named Bahia Bakari survived by holding onto floating debris for 13 hours. Her rescue was carried out by local fishermen and officials on Grande Comore. Accompanying her was her mother, who tragically did not survive. Bakari was later discharged from a hospital in Paris on 23 July 2009.

Continued searches

Alongside the survivor, five bodies were retrieved, while an additional 22 were located on Mafia Island in Tanzania and subsequently transported to medical facilities in Dar es Salaam. On 5 July 2009, signals emitted from the plane’s flight recorders were detected. The French oceanographic vessel Beautemps-Beaupré arrived on 15 July and completed seafloor mapping by 23 July, facilitating the search for the recorders. Due to their considerable depth, remote-operated underwater vehicles were deployed starting in August 2009 to recover the devices. The flight data recorder was successfully retrieved on 28 August at a significant depth, followed by the cockpit voice recorder on 29 August.

Investigation

The inquiry was headed by the National Civil Aviation and Meteorological Agency (ANACM). Assistance came from the French Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) along with Airbus experts. Yemen sent a technical delegation and established a committee led by its Minister of Transport. Corrosion compromised data extraction from the cockpit voice recorder. Initial conclusions pointed to pilot error as the cause, a finding disputed by both Comorian and Yemeni officials. In November 2009, Yemenia requested an independent investigation, accusing French authorities of harassment and alleging damage to its reputation.

In 2011, BEA criticized delays by Comorian officials in publishing the investigation report. On 25 June 2013, Bourhane Ahmed Bourhane, head of Comoros’ investigative commission, attributed the accident to "improper crew actions" during an "unstabilised manoeuvre." The victims’ relatives protested the final report in Paris, while Yemen suspected foul play despite lacking supporting evidence.

The investigation determined that crew mistakes caused an unrecovered stall during an unstable approach. Numerous warnings—including those for ground proximity, incorrect aircraft configuration, and impending stall—were disregarded as the crew was preoccupied with navigation under stress. Contributing elements comprised adverse wind conditions, insufficient training, absence of pre-flight briefing, and failure to heed pull-up alerts.[1][2]

Passengers and crew

A total of 142 passengers and 11 crew members were aboard, predominantly nationals of Comoros or France. Other passengers included individuals from Canada, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Morocco, Israeli Arabs, the Philippines, and Yemen. According to airport sources, 66 passengers held French citizenship; many likely had dual French-Comorian nationality. A significant number were probably Marseille residents with family connections in Comoros traveling for summer holidays. Besides these groups, two additional European passengers were on board. The flight deck crew consisted of three Yemeni pilots; cabin crew comprised three Yemenis, two Moroccans, one Filipino, one Ethiopian, and one Indonesian member.

Controversy

Dominique Bussereau, the French Secretary of State for Transport, revealed that France had prohibited the aircraft from operating within its borders several years prior due to technical non-compliances. In contrast, Khaled Ibrahim Alwazir, Yemen's Transport Minister, maintained that the plane complied with international safety standards following an extensive evaluation conducted alongside Airbus specialists. The Comoran diaspora in France organized a commemorative march in Paris, simultaneously protesting Yemenia’s safety record at French airports by obstructing boarding and check-in procedures, causing flight disruptions. As a result, Yemenia indefinitely halted all flights connecting Marseille and suspended additional routes between Sana'a and Moroni.

Burial and repatriation of bodies

By Tuesday, 1 December 2009, remains of nine crew members had been recovered and transported to Sana'a. Among those identified were Captain Khaled Hajeb, First Officer Ali Atef, three cabin crew members from Yemen, two from Morocco, and one Ethiopian cabin crew member. Hamdi Wazea was interred in Sana'a, while other Yemeni crew members were laid to rest in Aden. The Moroccan victims’ remains were returned to Morocco, and the Ethiopian crew member’s body was sent to Addis Ababa. Still unaccounted for were Yemeni engineer Ali Salem, as well as one Filipino and one Indonesian cabin crew member. In the two days preceding 1 December, 54 bodies were buried in Moroni.

External links

  1. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ANACM
  2. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named avherald
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