What happened
During a night flight originating from Sana'a, the crew began an approach to runway 02 at Moroni-Prince Saïd Ibrahim Airport. At the time of the incident, meteorological conditions were favorable, featuring a visibility of 10 km and an outside air temperature of 24° C. Wind conditions were recorded at 180° with gusts reaching 25 knots for runway 20.
While performing the approach, the crew executed a go-around maneuver. Following this decision, the aircraft entered an uncontrolled descent and impacted the ocean roughly 6 km from the airfield. Among the passengers, a 12-year-old girl was discovered alive several hours after the impact. However, the accident resulted in 152 fatalities.
Findings
Investigation efforts involved the recovery of the cockpit voice recorder and the digital flight data recorder from a depth of 1,200 meters, which occurred nearly two months after the accident. The official final report regarding the crash was released in June 2013. The investigation noted that the aircraft entered an uncontrolled descent immediately following the initiation of the go-around procedure.