Sole Comoros crash survivor returns home to France

Europe News

Jul 2, 2009, 8:00 GMT

Paris - The only known survivor from the crash of a Yemenia Airbus A310 near the Comoros islands, 12-year-old Bahiya Bakary, arrived at Le Bourget airport near Paris Thursday. The 'miracle girl,' as she has been dubbed, was accompanied on the flight by French Junior Minister for Development Alain Joyandet and was greeted on the tarmac by her father, Kassim Bakary, and other family members. Bahiya was immediately taken to a Paris hospital for treatment of her injuries, which include a fracture collarbone and a number of burns. The girl, who is a French citizen of Comoran origin, turns 13 next month. She spent nearly 12 hours in the water after the crash, clinging to a piece of wreckage while around her other survivors lost their battle for life. 'I was just hanging on,' she told her father during their first telephone conversation after the crash. 'I heard people around me talking in the darkness. After a while I didn't hear any talking any more.' The teenager's survival is all the more remarkable since, according to her father, she is unable to swim. Joyandet said he was astonished by her 'physical strength and absolutely incredibly morale.' The Airbus A310 was carrying 142 passengers and a crew of 11 when it plunged into the Indian Ocean Tuesday in bad weather.

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