Miracle girl flies home

A 14-year-old girl who is the only known survivor of the Yemenia Air plane crash in the Indian Ocean has been flown back to Paris from Moroni, the capital of the Comoros Islands.

Bahia Bakari was thrown into the sea when the Airbus A310 went down just before landing with 153 passengers and crew on board. She was travelling with her mother, who is feared dead.

France’s Minister for International Co-operation Alan Joyandet was at the airport to see Bahia leave on a chartered jet.

The teenager’s father is still coming to terms with the news of her survival: “I can’t say it is a miracle – this word is too strong for me and I don’t want to use it. I would say instead that it was her destiny to survive.”

Despite a fractured collarbone, Bahia clung to some floating wreckage for more than 13 hours before rescuers found her floating in the sea.

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tags: France, Victims