Comoros pays tribute to crash victimsThousands of Comorans gathered Monday in the capital Moroni to pay tribute to the 152 people who perished in a Yemenia airlines plane crash off the island's coast last week. Prayers replaced the Indian Ocean Indian Ocean, third largest ocean, c.28,350,000 sq mi (73,427,000 sq km), extending from S Asia to Antarctica and from E Africa to SE Australia; it is c.4,000 mi (6,400 km) wide at the equator. It constitutes about 20% of the world's total ocean area. archipelago's July 6 independence day celebrations. Many of the passengers in the downed Airbus craft were Comorans heading home for summer break often marked with family and wedding celebrations. "Instead of being a day of happy reunion, it has come to be a day in the national mourning MOURNING. This word has several significations. 1. It is the apparel worn at funerals, and for a time afterwards, in order to manifest grief for the death of some one, and to honor his memory. 2. The expenses paid for such apparel. 2. (period)," Ismail Shafi, a top foreign affairs foreign affairs pl.n. Affairs concerning international relations and national interests in foreign countries. official, told the crowd. Only one passenger, a 12-year-old girl, survived the June 30 disaster, which happened as the aircraft tried to land at Moroni airport. President Ahmed Abdallah Ahmed Abdallah Abderemane (Arabic: أحمد عبد الله عبد الرحمن, Ahmad Abd Allah Abd ar-Rahman Sambi, who has declared a month of national mourning, honoured Libounah Maturaffi, a navy officer who rescued Bahia Bakari from the sea several hours after the accident. "You saved someone else's life at the risk of losing yours," said Sambi, saluting the officer's courage. But the president spoke little of the disaster, quickly turning to the row between the three-island Union of Comoros and former colonial power France over the French isle of Isle of For names of actual isles, see the specific element of the name; for example, Wight, Isle of. Mayotte. At independence, Mayotte, which is part of a four-island archipelago Archipelago (ärkĭpĕl`əgō) [Ital., from Gr.=chief sea], ancient name of the Aegean Sea, later applied to the numerous islands it contains. The word now designates any cluster of islands. made up of Grande Comores Grande Comore (also known as Ngazidja and Ngasidja, and erroneously as Njazidja) is an island in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa. It is the largest island in the Comoros nation. Most of its population is of the Comorian ethnic group. , Anjouan and Moheli, voted in the July 6, 1975 referendum to remain part of France while the rest opted for independence. The union government has always maintained that Mayotte belongs to the Comoros and not France. "France is a friend, but not a brother," said Sambi. "Our friendship with France does not stop us from claiming Mayotte." "The presence of France in Mayotte cannot be legal without our agreement. We cannot accept to lend Mayotte to France for lease period of say 50 years. "We should be proud today that our country has been governed by Comorans since 1975," he added. 
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