Bahia Bakari survived Yemenia Airways crash as sole passenger in 2009
The 12-year-old girl clung to wreckage for 13 hours after the aircraft plunged into the Indian Ocean.
A 12-year-old girl, Bahia Bakari, was the only survivor of a Yemenia Airways Flight IY626 crash in the Indian Ocean in June 2009, according to a Times of India report. The Airbus A310-324 was travelling from Sana’a, Yemen, to Moroni, Comoros, when it went into the sea near the Comoros Islands.
The aircraft was carrying 142 passengers and 11 crew members. The plane struck the water about 18 km from the airport during a night-time approach in difficult weather. France’s Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) stated that radio communication with the crew was lost just before the impact.
Bakari, who could barely swim, spent approximately 13 hours in the water clinging to debris. She was eventually rescued by a sailor, Libouna Maturaffe Soulemane, who jumped into the sea from the vessel Sima Com 2 to reach her. She was treated for hypothermia and a fractured collarbone.
The crash resulted in the deaths of 152 people, including Bakari's mother, Aziza Aboudou. Bakari's father, Kassim Bakari, described his daughter as a timid child who struggled to stay afloat. She was flown to Le Bourget airport near Paris on July 2, 2009.
An international investigation into the accident involved authorities from the Comoros, France, Yemen, and the United States.