Airbus Crashes into Indian Ocean, 150+ Dead

(Comoros Islands) Yemenia Air flight IY 626 from Paris to Sana'a, Yemen, via Marseilles and the Comoros Islands, crashed into the Indian Ocean after an aborted landing attempt at the Moroni Airport on Grand Comore. The plane was an Airbus 310.

Passengers on flight IY 626 included 66 French nationals. Casualties are reported at 152 with one apparent survivor.

The Comoros government said speed boats were sent to look for signs of wreckage immediately, helped by two French fighter jets based in Mayotte and another of the country's Indian Ocean territories, Reunion.

They spotted an oil slick around 16 miles offshore.

When the boats arrived they found a number of bodies floating in the water, and had taken three from the water when they found a toddler still alive, according to a Yemenia and local officials, quoting rescue workers.

"A child was found alive. He is now on a rescuers' boat," said Ben Imani, a doctor at Moroni's main hospital.

No initial suspicion of terrorism has been reported. Rather, maintenance problems have been suggested as the cause.