Only survivor from Yemen plane crash tells how she feels
- 00:01:13
- ITN
Only survivor from Yemen plane crash tells how she feels
A 14-year-old girl who was the sole survivor of a plane crash in the Indian Ocean has been reunited with her father back in France. The Yemenia Airways jet carrying 153 people plunged into deep water while attempting to land on the Comoros archipelago. Bahia Bakari, who can barely swim, survived by clinging on to floating debris for more than 12 hours before search teams spotted her struggling in rough seas. Rescuers have failed to find any of the remaining 152 passengers and crew since the Airbus A310 crashed in rough weather in the early hours of Tuesday morning. American and French military aircraft continue to scour the crash site - but hopes of another miracle find are fading fast. Efforts have turned towards locating the wreckage, which is thought to be in waters up to 500m (1,640ft) deep. Local doctors, who marvelled at Bahia's escape with little more than cuts, bruises and a fractured collar bone, said she was discharged from hospital on her father's request. "It was on the demand of her father in France. The girl was regaining her spirit and was in a satisfactory physical state," said Dr Jean Youssef, lead doctor at the disaster unit on Grand Comore. TV pictures showed her lying weakly in a poorly-equipped intensive care bed, unaware her mother had died in the crash. Dr Youssef said Moroni's El Marouf hospital lacked the facilities needed to properly scan the teenager's body for any internal damage. Local rescuers suspect many of the dead remain trapped inside the doomed plane and say the search effort should focus on finding the wreck. "Everything leads us to believe that the bodies of the victims remain inside. In two days we haven't found a body, any large pieces of debris or suitcases floating on the water," disaster centre member Ibrahim Abdourazak said. The cause of the crash is still unknown. The French defence ministry denied reports by the state-run airline that the flight recorder - the so called black-box - had been found. The airline said there were 75 Comoran passengers on board, along with 65 French nationals, one Palestinian and one Canadian. The crew comprised of six Yemenis, two Moroccans, one Indonesian, one Ethiopian and a Filipina. The aircraft, which was on the final leg of a trip from Paris and Marseille, was the second Airbus to crash into the sea in a month. An Air France Airbus A330-200 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean killing 228 people on board on June 1.
ITN | July 2, 2009
