Teenage Girl Only Survivor of Plane Crash into Indian Ocean

This is both a sad story and an uplifting story. On the one hand, 152 people are most likely not to be found alive because of a plane crash this week into the Indian Ocean. But on the other, by some divine twist of fate or miraculous occurrence, 14-year-old Bahia Bakari was found in the water where the plane went down...the plane's sole survivor. Here is the deal:

Bahia Bakari clung to wreckage in shark-infested waters for more than 13 hours after being ejected from the doomed jet.

The 14-year-old, who cannot swim and did not have a lifebelt, was alone in the water from 1.30am as bodies and debris floated past. Her mother was among the dead.

It was not until 3pm that rescuers saw her bobbing up and down in the Indian Ocean.

She waved as they shone a torch from their boat but was unable to grasp a life ring and was hauled aboard.

Bahia, shivering uncontrollably and suffering a broken collarbone, cuts, bruises and hypothermia, was given hot water and sugar before being taken to hospital.

Surgeon Ben Imani said: “Her health is not in danger. She is very calm given the shock she has suffered.”

Bahia sat up for photographers but under French privacy laws we are not allowed to show her face.

Bahia’s father Kassim Bakari, who had waved off his family in Paris, has spoken to her by phone about her incredible survival.Mr Bakari, from Marseille, said: “She felt nothing and was found in the water. 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.”

In a radio interview, he said: “I’m astonished. I’m grieving for my wife but I am stunned and amazed Bahia is alive. She’s a very timid girl. I never thought she would escape like that.” He added: “She’s pleading to see her mother. Who is going to tell her? I don’t know who is going to tell her that. I can’t tell her.”

Alain Joyandet, the French minister for international co-operation, visited Bahia in hospital in the Comoros capital of Moroni.

He said: “It’s a true miracle. She showed incredible strength. She is physically out of danger but is very traumatized.”

> Read more at mirror.co.uk

Wow. I can't even imagine what the rest of her life will be like. What is it like to live your life after you nearly lost yours?

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