A French court on Wednesday said Yemenia Airways was guilty of involuntary homicide linked to a 2009 plane crash that killed 152, a court spokesperson told Reuters on Wednesday.
The airline was ordered to pay a 225,000 euro ($225,045) fine, according to a court document seen by Reuters. It also needs to pay more than one million euros in damages and legal costs.
"French justice has acknowledged that Yemenia committed serious mistakes," said Said Assoumani, head of the victims' families association. "The ruling is excellent and consistent with our expectations."
Yemenia Airways could not immediately be reached for comment. The company has 10 days to appeal the court's decision.
The Airbus A310-300 that had left Yemen with 153 people on board, including 66 French nationals, crashed into the sea off the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros as it approached in bad weather. Only one person survived, a girl who was 12 years old at the time.
($1 = 0.9998 euros)
(Reporting by Juliette Jabkhiro; Editing by Tassilo Hummel and Mark Potter)
