A passenger jet from Yemen with 153 people on board crashed in the Indian Ocean early Tuesday as it tried to land during heavy wind on the island nation of Comoros, a Yemeni aviation official was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. Bodies were spotted floating off the coast and a Comoros police official said three had been recovered so far. There was no word on survivors. Yemeni civil aviation deputy chief Mohammed Abdul Qader said there were 142 passengers and a crew of 11 Yemenis on board when the plane, which had set off from the Yemeni capital of San'a, went down before landing in Moroni, on the main island of Grand Comore. The majority of the passengers were from the Comoros islands, returning home from Paris, he said. Those on board included families with children and there were at least three babies on board, he added. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in a statement that 66 of the passengers were French. He said French aviation and naval support was heading to help in search operations at the Comoros government's request. Abdul Qader, the Yemeni official, said bodies have been spotted floating off the archipelago and that a rescue and search effort was under way. He said Yemeni, French and Comoron officials were coordinating to investigate the plane crash. «They spotted an oil spill 16 or 17 miles in the Ocean off the (Moroni) airport,» Abdul Qader said, adding that three Comoron boats are searching for the debris and bodies. «The wind speed was 61 kilometers per hour as the plane was landing.» Kouchner expressed «sincere condolences» and said the French Embassy in Moroni was «fully mobilized» to help families. The French junior minister for cooperation, Alain Joyandet, is heading Tuesday to Moroni, the statement said. The Comoros is an archipelago of three main islands situated about 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometer) south of Yemen, between Africa's southeastern coast and Madagascar. In France, Christophe Prazuck, French military spokesman, says that patrol boat, the Rieuse and fregate Nivose, a reconnaissance ship, were being sent to crash site as well as Transall, a military transport plane.
