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Air crash girl clung to debris for 12 hours in ocean
Peter Allen in Paris1 Jul 2009
The 14-year-old girl who was the sole survivor of a plane crash in the Indian Ocean could not swim and did not have a life jacket, it emerged today
Rescuers told how "fragile and timid" Baya Bakari had to hang on to debris from the Yemenia Airways jet for 12 hours before being spotted floundering in a sea full of oil and bodies.
When Baya was rescued she was suffering from extreme tiredness and hypothermia. The crash is believed to have killed 152 others, including her mother.
Today the body of an Irish doctor killed in the plane disaster was recovered.
Dr Jane Deasy, from Dublin, died along with two friends on board the flight. The Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed the recovery of the body.
Baya, from Marseille, is now sitting up in bed and speaking. According to her father Kassim, she attributed her survival to being "ejected" from the Airbus 310 as it broke up off the archipelago of Comoros on Monday.
Mr Bakari said: "She felt nothing, and was found in the water. She saw nobody during the night. She was ejected. She was found beside the plane. I never thought she would get out like that. It's the Good Lord who wanted it."
Mr Bakari remains in Paris, where he had seen his daughter off at the airport. Baya had climbed onto wreckage, believed to be part of the plane's cabin, but kept slipping back into the sea.
By the time a boat's torch picked her out, she could hardly move.
"We tried to throw her a life buoy to hang on to, but she wouldn't take the buoy," said one of the rescuers.
"I had to jump in to rescue her. She was trembling. We put four sheets around her and gave her hot water and sugar. We simply asked her name and her village. We took her to hospital urgently.'
Bakari was one of 142 passengers, including three babies, and 11 crew on board the Airbus 310, which ditched after a failed attempt to land in stormy weather. Her family is originally from the Comoros.
Doctor Ada Mansour, who is treating Baya in hospital, said: "She is with us in a recovery ward. She's conscious and talking. We're trying to get her back on her feet, but we're not questioning her as we don't want to tire her out."
The disaster brought calls for a world blacklist of unsafe carriers after it emerged that France had banned the 19-year-old plane, onto which the passengers had transferred in Yemen, from landing on its soil two years ago.
EU officials have voiced concerns over the record of Yemenia, owned by the Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
Reader views (4)
She is not the sole survivor. A 5 year old was found also. That makes two
- Denise, Louisvile, USA, 01/07/2009 16:32
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If it's true that the plane that flew from France was swopped for a less airworthy one at Sanaa, then I think that is disgusting and Yeman Air should be forced to pay very generous compensation. It is racism pure and simple.
- Sue R, London, 01/07/2009 15:42
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I feel a film coming on. Do you think Celine Dion is free at the moment?!
- Ron, London, 01/07/2009 14:20
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What an incredible story - one can't imagine what an ordeal/nightmare that girl has gone through. Hope she recovers as much as she possibly can quickly.
- Curtis, London, 01/07/2009 11:03
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