French inspectors found faults with Yemeni Airways jet

France found faults with crashed Yemeni plane

PARIS — France’s transport minister says French aviation inspectors found a “number of faults” during a 2007 inspection of a plane that has crashed in the Indian Ocean.

The passenger jet from Yemen with 153 people on board crashed Tuesday as it tried to land during heavy wind on the island nation of Comoros.

Dominique Bussereau said on France’s i-Tele television Tuesday that the Airbus A310 was inspected by France’s civil aviation agency DGAC in 2007 and “they noticed a certain number of faults.”

He says the plane had not returned to French air space since.

He says the airline was not on any European black lists but “was subject to stricter surveillance on our part” and was scheduled for an upcoming interview with European Union safety officials.