A French court on Wednesday ordered a Yemeni airline that operated a passenger plane which crashed into the Indian Ocean in 2009 to pay damages to the flight’s sole survivor and the families of 65 French citizens who died.
The Yemenia flight departed from Paris, picked up more passengers in the southern French city of Marseille and made a stopover in Sanaa, Yemen, where 142 passengers and 11 crew members boarded another plane to continue to the capital of Comoros, an island nation off Africa’s east coast.
The ageing Airbus A310 crashed about 15 kilometres off the Comorian coast while attempting to land in strong winds. In total, 152 people were killed.
Yemenia, which is Yemen's flagship airline, was charged in the Paris court with “manslaughter and unintentional injuries”. The trial in the civil case ended in June.
The company denied responsibility but the court ordered it to pay €225,000 ($237,000) in damages to the survivor, Bahia Bakari, and to the families of the French victims.
Yemenia lawyers said they would appeal the verdict.
Most of the passengers were from Comoros.
Bakari, who was 12 years old at the time, survived by clinging to floating debris from the plane for 11 hours before being rescued. She suffered a broken collarbone, a broken hip, burns and other injuries. Her mother died in the crash.
Now 25, Bakari gave powerful testimony in a packed Paris courtroom in May, earning praise for her bravery from judges and lawyers.
Other witnesses slammed what they claimed was the poor state of air travel from Yemen, which has since become embroiled in a brutal civil war. Some claimed Yemenia was more interested in profits than in taking care of its passengers.
A lawyer for the victims’ families, Said Larifou, denounced the operation of passenger planes that he claimed were “flying coffins”.
In 2015, two French courts that oversaw civil proceedings ordered Yemenia to pay more than €30 million to the victims’ families, who deplored the slowness of the proceedings between France and the Comoros, a former colony that became independent in 1975.
The airline in 2018 signed a confidential agreement with 835 beneficiaries, who had to wait several more years to receive compensation.
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Ant-Man and the Wasp
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Three stars
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2002 Giselle Khoury (Colombia)
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2017 Dima Safi (Ivory Coast)
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Dubai Hurricanes 24-12 Abu Dhabi Harlequins
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A new relationship with the old country
Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.
ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.
ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.
DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
Signed
Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed
