July 14, 2009 20:07 PM

France "Uncooperative" On Clues To Jet Crash:Yemenia

SANA'A, July 14 (Bernama) -- France has not showed much cooperation in finding facts about the crash of a Yemenia jetliner into the Indian Ocean this month, refusing to conduct DNA tests on found bodies and delaying retrieving the black boxes, Yemen news agency (Saba) reported.

Chairman of the board of directors of the Yemenia Airways Abdul Khaliq al-Qadhi said the French had announced a delay to recovering the black boxes until July 17 but gave no reasons.

Earlier France said ships were arriving at the crash site to recover the black boxes.

At a meeting with the families of the crash victims, al-Qadhi assured the families Yemen is exerting utmost efforts to know the cause of the crash.

Search is continuing, he told the families, adding the bodies found so far must be tested, however, Yemen's ambassador told me, he says, that France refuses to perform DNA tests on the bodies.

Meanwhile, Yemen is collecting the signatures of the victim families to approve testing the bodies.

According to French authorities the crash site is rocky and too difficult to reach by divers. A robot could do what divers can't.

In reply to whether the airplane was hit by a missile fired by one of French naval ships in the region, al-Qadhi said there was no evidence that it was attacked.

"There is no concrete evidence with which we can find the real reason behind the disaster."

However, he said that the last conversation between the captain and the Moroni port showed the plane had no technical problems.

The plane vanished suddenly, he added.

Early this month, the Yemenia flight IY 626 plunged into the Indian Ocean off Comoros with 153 people, passengers and a crew of 11, onboard.

Only one French teenager survived the tragedy.

Some pieces of the jetliner including large ones and about 20 bodies have been recovered. Search continues for the black boxes.

-- BERNAMA

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