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BREAKING NEWS | Emaar merger 'technical talks' done in 1 mth
EUR | GBP Down 1.113 ,  USD | EUR Up 0.674 ,  USD | GBP Up 0.606

Yemenia airline announced Thursday it had indefinitely suspended flights to and from Marseille, France, after the loss of its Airbus A310 near the Indian Ocean island of Comoros.

The suspension of flights would come into effect immediately, said a company statement.

At Marseille airport, Yemenia official Mohamed Zoubeidi told reporters: "The company has decided to stop, for an undetermined period, its flights from Marseille to Sanaa."

The company would refund any tickets already bought for as long as the suspension lasted, he added.

The announcement came after more than four hours of talks between airline officials, the airport management and representatives of the Comoran community in Marseille.

As Zoubeidi made his announcement, about 100 Comoran demonstrators shouted anti-Yemenia slogans, some of them calling for their Marseille flights to be stopped for good.

Earlier Thursday, up to 500 Comorans staged a second day of protests at the airport, said police.

Forming a human chain to block Yemenia's check-in counters, they forced officials to cancel the airline's daily flight to Moroni for a second day running.

"The situation is very, very tense," airport director Pierre Regis told news agency AFP.

The only known survivor among the 153 people on the Yemenia Airbus A310 jet, which crashed off Comoros Tuesday, was a 12-year-old girl, Bahia Bakari, who was flown home to Paris on a French government plane Thursday.

The Yemenia flight left Paris on Monday for Marseille and Sanaa aboard a modern Airbus A330 but passengers switched to the older A310 jet to continue to Djibouti and Moroni.

Yemenia airlines, under attack from angry relatives who suspect the plane was not safe, has offered initial compensation of 20,000 euros ($28,000) to each of the victims' families.


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AFP
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