After 15 years, the French judiciary confirms the guilt of Yemenia Airlines in the plane crash off the Comoros Islands

Fifteen years after a plane it was using crashed off the Comoros Islands, killing 152 people, Yemenia Airways was convicted on Tuesday on appeal in Paris of manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter, and ordered to pay the maximum fine.

The capital's appeals court upheld the ruling of September 14, 2022, which imposed on the company the maximum fine provided by law at the time of the accident, i.e. 225,000 euros, and held it responsible for "a deficiency certainly linked to the accident."

On the night of June 29-30, 2009, while preparing to land at Moroni Airport, the capital of the Comoros Islands, Yemenia Flight 626 crashed into the Indian Ocean, killing 141 passengers, including 65 French nationals, which prompted an investigation in France, and 11 crew members.

One 12-year-old girl survived after clinging to the wreckage of the plane for hours.

Investigations conducted on the two black boxes after they were found at the end of August 2009 at a depth of 1,280 metres, led to the conclusion that the accident was due to a series of pilot errors.

The president of the appeals court did not elaborate on the reasons for the decision. The lower court had pointed to “recklessness” on the part of the company “certainly linked to the accident,” particularly for maintaining night flights in the summer, when weather conditions can make landing manoeuvres difficult and some airport lights are not working.

The court also noted at the time that the co-pilot had been assigned to the flight despite having “professional weaknesses.”

On Tuesday morning, the President of the Court of Appeal, Sylvie Madic, added to the sentence a penalty of displaying the decision for two months in the buildings of the airports of Roissy and Marseille.

Yemenia Airways, which appealed its conviction in the lower court, can now appeal to the Court of Cassation. Its lawyers declined to comment Tuesday.

“We are very satisfied with this decision, which confirms what was clear given the material elements that were in the file,” said Roman Lebovici, a lawyer for the association of victims’ relatives.

No mitigating circumstances

He added, "It is 15 years of work that is bearing fruit today, expressing his hope that the ruling will be final because every time, it is a new ordeal for all rights holders."

The court followed the decision of the Public Prosecution, which requested the same penalty issued by the first instance court during the second trial, stressing that it did not see “any mitigating circumstances” for the company.

This second trial again featured powerful testimony from Bahia Bakari (27 years old today), the sole survivor of the disaster. Many relatives of the victims were present to hear her.

As in the first instance, the dock was empty. The only difference was that one of the company's executives was questioned via video, but he was still unable to answer most of the questions.

On its last flight, the Airbus A310 was carrying many Comorians and French Comorians to attend “grand weddings,” celebrations that bring together entire villages.

The passengers, who had departed from Paris or Marseille, had changed their plane in Sana'a and boarded an old aircraft.

This operation and the company's "disturbing" flight conditions have been denounced for months by the association SOS Voyages aux Comoros .

But legal experts concluded that the technical condition of the plane was not the cause of the accident.

Source: AFP