Sponsored by
'Miracle' air crash survivor held on for 13 hours
The injured 14-year-old sole survivor of the Comoros plane crash told yesterday how she clung to floating wreckage for 13 hours before she was found.
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.
Email to a friend
Print this page- Three-inch blanket of snow heading our way today
- Alan Shearer in list of favourites for Leeds and England jobs: Latest odds
- Barnsley’s Keith Hill invokes Fawlty Towers over link with Leeds job
- McCormack feels United search can be narrowed down
- Redfearn throws down gauntlet as queue builds at Elland Road
- Rival chips in with £500,000 to restore the original Harry Ramsden’s
- Visit from Princess as Serbian culture celebrated
- SportsTalk: Leeds United’s manager search, Super League and Calcutta Cup
- Libraries aren’t like supermarkets, they are magical places where dreams begin
- Strategic review will lead to job losses at Yorkshire Bank
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -1 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 1 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North west
