Bahia Bakari was flung clear of the Yemenia Airbus when it crashed into the Indian Ocean on its final approach.

She had been travelling to the archipelago off Africa's east coast with her mother, who is feared to have died along with the other 151 people on board.

Her father, who remained at the family's home in France, said she was able to talk to him on the phone.

Kassim Bakari said his daughter suddenly found herself beside the plane.

"She couldn't feel anything, and found herself in the water. She heard people speaking around her but she couldn't see anyone in the darkness," he said.

"She's a very timid girl, I never thought she would escape like that."

Yesterday Bahia, who suffered a broken collarbone in the crash, was conscious and well enough to talk to officials who visited her in hospital.

Alain Joyandet, France's minister for international cooperation, said: "It is a true miracle. She is a courageous young girl. She held onto a piece of the plane from 1.30am to 3.00pm."

He said she was strong enough to signal a passing boat, which rescued her.

"She really showed an absolutely incredible physical and moral strength," he said.

Mr Joyandet said Bahia would be flown back to France as soon as she was well enough.

"She is physically out of danger, she is evidently very traumatised," he said.

Bahia does not yet know her mother is dead. Her uncle Joseph Yousouf said: "She's asking for her mother," and he has told her she is in the hospital room next door.

The crash came two years after aviation officials reported equipment faults with the plane, an ageing Airbus 310 flying the last leg of a Yemenia airlines flight from Paris and Marseille to the Comoros, with a stop in Yemen to change planes.

Most of the passengers were from the Comoros. Sixty-six were French nationals.

The French air accident investigation agency BEA said it was sending a team to Comoros, an group of three main islands 1,800 miles south of Yemen, between Africa's south-eastern coast and the island of Madagascar.

General Bruno de Bourdoncle de Saint-Salvy, the senior commander for French forces in the southern Indian Ocean, said the Airbus crashed in deep water nine miles north of the Comoran coast and 21 miles from the Moroni airport.

Mr Joyandet said no other survivors had been found but the search was continuing. The sea was rough and the wind blowing hard, he added.