Teen survivor in water for 13 hours

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(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-02 08:16

MORONI, Comoros: A bruised teenage girl who is the only known survivor of a Yemeni jet crash clung to wreckage for more than 13 hours before rescuers found her floating in the Indian Ocean, a French official said yesterday.

There was no word on any other survivors. French officials said one of the plane's black boxes had been found, which could provide clues into the cause of Tuesday's crash off the coast of this former French colony.

The Yemenia Airbus 310 jet was carrying 153 people to island nation of Comoros when it crashed into the sea early on Tuesday as it attempted to land in the dark amid howling winds.

A reporter saw 14-year-old Bahia Bakari in a Comoros hospital yesterday as she was visited by government officials. She was conscious with bruises on her face and a gauze bandage on her elbow.

Previous reports had described the survivor as a 5-year-old child.

"It is a true miracle. She is a courageous young girl," Alain Joyandet, France's minister for international cooperation, said at the hospital. "She held onto a piece of the plane from 1:30 am to 3:00 pm."

Joyandet said the girl would be flown back to France last night and put in a Paris hospital upon arrival.

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

The girl's father told French radio that his daughter was "fragile" and could "barely swim" but managed to hang on.

Kassim Bakari said he spoke with his oldest daughter by phone. Bahia had left Paris on Monday night with her mother to see family in the Comoros.

He said she was ejected and 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," Bakari said on France's RTL radio. "She's a very timid girl, I never thought she would escape like that."

Sergeant Said Abdilai told Europe 1 radio that Bahia was too weak to grasp the life ring rescuers threw to her, so he jumped into the sea to get her. He said rescuers gave the trembling girl warm water with sugar.