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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• Flight 1549's Good Luck Charm - Passenger Maryann Bruce
  

Flight 1549's Good Luck Charm - Passenger Maryann Bruce

Just when you thought the amazing stories to come out of last week's "Miracle on the Hudson" plane crash were over...there is this - turns out that one of the passengers had already escaped death six times before!

Maryanne Bruce knew her number wasn't up when Flight 1549 was ditched in the Hudson River.

The reason was simple: It was only No. 7 out of her allotted nine lives.

At 48, the business executive, who lives in North Carolina, has already survived a tsunami in Hawaii, a plane trip through a hurricane off Long Island, an earthquake in California and an avalanche while skiing in Colorado.

She also worked in the twin towers during the 1993 terrorist attack, and was midflight from Charlotte, N.C., to Boston on 9/11, and watched the two buildings smolder from the jet's window.

Can you believe that? Her relatives call her a jinx, but she says she's a good luck charm. It's hard to argue with that. My favorite piece of wisdom is this:

Bruce kept her hospital tags as a memento and flew back home Friday, having no qualms about stepping onto a plane again.

"I'm the type that just figures you've got to get back on the horse," she said. "You never think it's going to happen again, you gotta live life, and I don't want to live life being afraid."

> Read More at the NY Daily News

Miracle on the Hudson - Chesley Sullenberger is My Hero

The lead story on the news across the country is no doubt the emergency landing of a US Airways plane in the Hudson River today. Apparently a few birds crashed into the plane, causing it to go down. It could have been terrible and tragic...but it wasn't. Before today, Chesley Sullenberger was a pilot. Now he's a hero.

In the aftermath of the crash, the pilot, Chesley Burnett "Sully" Sullenberger III, was praised for his efforts at landing the plane softly on the river's surface, allowing rescue crews to get to the passengers before the plane sank.

"It would appear that the pilot did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river, and then making sure everybody got out," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a news conference late today.

What cinched it for me was this - he walked the aisle of the downed US Airways jet twice looking for passengers before exiting the plane he safely ditched in the Hudson River, saving the lives of more than 150 people onboard. What an amazing man.

> Read More about the Heroic Landing & Sullenberger