Yemen airliner crashes off Comoros with 153 aboard

A Yemeni passenger jet crashed off the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Comoros today with 153 people on board, officials said, in the latest air disaster involving an Airbus.     

"The plane crashed in the early hours of the morning several nautical miles off the Comoros islands, with 142 passengers and 11 crew aboard," an official with the Yemeni national carrier Yemenia said.     

"Most of the passengers are French or from the Comoros," the official said, adding that rescue boats had been sent to the scene of the crash to hunt for possible survivors.     

It is the latest air disaster involving Airbus since an Air France jet plunged into the Atlantic almost a month ago with 228 people on board.     

"Yemenia regrets to announce the missing of its flight No IY626 from Sanaa to Moroni with 142 passengers and 11 crew onboard Airbus 310-300," was the announcement on the airline's website.     

It gave two emergency contact numbers, +967-1250-800 and +967-1250-833.     

There was no immediate information about the possible cause of the crash.    

"Rescue boats from the Comoros and Madagascar are taking part in the search operation," a Yemeni official told AFP, adding that the crash occurred about three kilometres from the coast.