The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
9 July 2009
The control centre for search operations to recover bodies of victims of the Yemen airline crash in the Indian Ocean will be set up in Dar es Salaam, the police have said.
The centre would be established at the Karimjee Hall in the city, Dar es Salaam special police zone commander Suleiman Kova told journalists yesterday.
The Yemenia plane came down in bad weather with 153 people on board on June 30. A 12-year-old girl - Baya Bakari - was the only survivor.
Debris and bodies thought to be from the plane that crashed off the Comoros last week were recovered on Monday near the Mafia Island.
By late yesterday afternoon, 14 bodies had washed up on islets around the island, sending strong signals that more bodies could still be scattered between the Comoros and Tanzania coasts.
A statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) yesterday said more debris thought to be from the ill-fated airbus were spotted by local fishermen in islets around the Mafia.
France and the Comoros authorities have since shifted their attention to Tanzania to search for more bodies.
The director general of the Surface and Maritime Transport Authority (Sumatra), Mr Israel Sekirasa, said yesterday France, the Comoros and Tanzania would pool resources for an intensive recovery operation.
He said the operation would involve three vessels and a police helicopter from the Tanzanian navy, as well as one naval vessel and navy helicopter from France.
Mr Sekirasa said the Tanzania Peoples' Defence Force (TPDF) had also informed the Dar es Salaam Maritime Rescue Coordination (MRCC) that the army was sending six doctors who would be air lifted to the Mafia Island.
In addition, the TPDF was sending its chief of training and operations and two marine vessels to the island to boost the search operation.
A delegation from the Comoros and France was also expected to arrive for the operation. This includes members of the Comorian Special Enquiries, a judge, an official of the ministry of transport, and the Comoros' minister for external relations.
The French ambassador to Tanzania said a vessel, the Floreal, from the French Navy, was sailing from the Comoros to the Mafia Island for the search and recovery operations.
It is expected to arrive early tomorrow morning, according to Mr Sekirasa.
Yesterday, a Tanzanian marine police vessel, M.V Mamba, left Dar es Salaam heading to the island for the operation.
Pwani regional police commander Absalom Mwakyoma told The Citizen yesterday they had recovered five bodies on the Juani, Gibondo and Mlali islets.
But he said search operations were stalled by poor communication and bad weather since the first bodies were spotted on Monday.
Mafia district commissioner Manzie Mangochie said Tuesday the Mafia Marine Park had provided a boat and other facilities that made it possible to locate and retrieve more bodies.
He said they had asked all fishermen in the area to report any body or debris that might be linked to the crash.
The Yemen Air Airbus 310 crashed as it prepared to land on its last leg of a journey from Paris via Marseille to Comoros, after a stopover in Yemen.
It crashed with 142 passengers and 11 crew members on board. Most of the passengers were French or from the Comoros.
Since the crash, rescue teams have been combing the waters around the area where the plane went down, but no remains had been recovered prior to the Mafia spotting.
The police in Dar es Salaam are set to start examining the bodies recovered from the island to establish whether or not they were of passengers in the plane.
Mr Kova told journalists yesterday that the exercise would also involve experts from France, Comoro and Yemen.
He said DNA tests were going to be conducted on the remains to assist in the identification of the dead. Ends
Reporting by Mkinga Mkinga, Devotha John and Ruth Stanley
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 The Citizen. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
