President Jacob Zuma extended his condolences on Tuesday to families who lost loved ones in the Yemenia Airways plane crash off the island of Comoros.
"South African President Jacob Zuma has expressed condolences to the French and the Comoran families following the Airbus 310 flight 626 crash, off the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Comoros, with 153 people on board," the department of international relations and co-operation said in a statement issued on his behalf.
Department spokesperson Nomfanelo Kota urged South African families who may have had relatives on board to contact the department for possible consular assistance.
The department is in the meantime also in contact with French and Comoran authorities to establish whether there may have been South Africans on board.
According to news agencies the craft crashed in stormy weather as it was approaching the capital Moroni at the end of a Paris-Yemen-Comoros flight.
Planes had been changed in Yemen for the final leg of the flight.
It was reported to have crashed in the early hours of Tuesday.
Zuma is currently in Sirte, Libya for the summit of the New Economic Partnership for Africa's Development. - Sapa