Pilot of Yemenia plane did not send distress signal

Sana'a (Yemen): The Yemen Airways plane that crashed off the Comoros islands with 153 people on board did not issue a distress signal or report any mechanical problems, a company official said on Wednesday.

"Aviation authorities in the Comoros informed us that the Moroni Airport control did not receive a distress signal from the pilot," Hassan al-Houthi, head of the technical department of the Yemenia told reporters in Sana'a.

He said the pilot of the Airbus A310-300 jet that crashed some 17 miles off the coast of the Comoran capital Moroni early Tuesday "did not even have time to make an emergency call".

"That means the plane did not encounter mechanical problems, and that the bad weather was likely the cause of the crash," al-Houthi said.