12-year-old girl who could barely swim survived Yemenia plane crash, clung to wreckage in Indian Ocean for hours

In June 2009, a 12-year-old girl who could barely swim found herself alone in the dark waters of the Indian Ocean after a passenger aircraft plunged into the sea near the Comoros Islands. Bahia Bakari clung to a piece of floating wreckage as rescuers searched for survivors. She was eventually pulled from the water by a sailor who jumped into the rough sea to reach her.

According to an Associated Press report published at the time, French officials said she had been afloat for about 13 hours. She was the only survivor of the crash that killed 152 people, including her mother.The aircraft was Yemenia Airways Flight IY626, an Airbus A310-324 travelling from Sana’a in Yemen to Moroni, the capital of the Comoros. The flight was part of a longer journey that had originated in Paris, with stops in Marseille and Sana’a.

It was carrying 142 passengers and 11 crew members, according to France’s Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA).The aircraft crashed into the sea during its approach to Moroni in the early hours of June 30, 2009.