France and U.S. join Comoros plane search

The Yemenia-run Airbus A310-300 went down in the Indian Ocean Tuesday morning with 153 people on board as it came in to land at Moroni, the Comoran capital. It was flying the final leg of a trip from Paris and Marseille to Comoros via Yemen.

Just one survivor -- a 14-year-old Franco-Comoran girl -- has been found in the sea. "Up to now we haven't found any other survivors, but we haven't given up hope," Comoran vice-president Idi Nadhoim told Reuters by telephone.

As a flotilla of boats took to sea off the main Grande Comore island at first light, angry Comoran expatriates tried to block passengers from checking into another flight from Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport to Yemen, the airports authority said.

About 60 people who had been due to take the flight did not check in, though the spokeswoman could not say if the protest was the cause or if they had decided not to travel for another reason. About 100 people did check in and the flight took off.

The survivor from the doomed flight, identified as Bakari Bahia, had cuts to her face and a fractured collar-bone. She was picked up during rescue efforts Tuesday.

"Her health is not in danger. She is very calm given the shock she suffered," local surgeon Ben Imani told Reuters at Moroni's El Marouf hospital.

Sixty-six French nationals were aboard the flight, Paris officials said. Though a full list has not yet been published, a Yemeni official said there were also nationals from Canada, Comoros, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Morocco, the Palestinian territories, the Philippines and Yemen on board.

Comoran officials said France had sent a plane, and was also moving two ships into the area while the United States had sent a helicopter to help, and a plane with supplies.

With a population of about 800,000, the formerly French-ruled Comoros archipelago comprises three islands off mainland east Africa and just north-west of Madagascar.