Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Hot on Facebook
Man Tries to Order Priciest Starbucks Drink Ever Total cost: $23.60 »

Survivor: Yemenia Crash 'Like Being Electrocuted'

12-year-old sole survivor tells her story

By Katherine Thompson,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 5, 2009 3:05 PM CDT
Email

(Newser) – When a Yemenia Airways jet fell out of the tempestuous sky into the sea, it felt "like being electrocuted," the sole survivor tells the Times of London. Bahia Bakari heard "a big sound" before being ejected from her plane, says the 12-year-old, and survived the hours after the crash by clinging to a piece of floating wreckage. In the dark, choppy seas, Bahia could not see other survivors, but “was hearing people speak."

By the time the sun came up and rescuers found her floating in a fuel slick some 13 hours later, those voices had quieted and Bakari was the only survivor. “She is exhausted and sleeping a lot” in the Paris hospital where she's recovering, says one of Bahia's aunts. “It’s very hard for her, knowing that her mother is missing and that she was the only survivor.”

Kassim Bakari, the father of 12-year old Bahia Bakari, the only known survivor of the crash of a Yemenia Airbus A 310 jet, answers reporters outside his apartment building south of Paris, Wednesday July 1, 2009.
Kassim Bakari, the father of 12-year old Bahia Bakari, the only known survivor of the crash of a Yemenia Airbus A 310 jet, answers reporters outside his apartment building south of Paris, Wednesday July...   (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)
Rescue workers return to Galawa Beach, Comoros Thursday, July 2, 2009 where a rescue center is based. An airliner with 153 people on board crashed as it came in to land on Tuesday, June 30, 2009.
Rescue workers return to Galawa Beach, Comoros Thursday, July 2, 2009 where a rescue center is based. An airliner with 153 people on board crashed as it came in to land on Tuesday, June 30, 2009.   (AP Photo/Sayyid Azim)
In this picture made from video broadcast by France 2/20 Minutes, Bahia Bakari, aged 12, is brought back to France on a French Government plane.
In this picture made from video broadcast by France 2/20 Minutes, Bahia Bakari, aged 12, is brought back to France on a French Government plane.   (AP Photo/Faustine Vincent/France 2/20 Minute)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
To report an error on this story, notify our editors.
A snapshot of the day's best news stories.
 
COMMENTS
Showing 1 of 1 comment
riffran
Jul 6, 2009 6:22 AM CDT
god bless her little heart...poor kid.....but watched over by an angel, to have survived that

 
plane crash • rescue • survivors • Yemenia Air • Bahia Bakari

More Newser Stories

8 Survivors in India Plane Crash

Thirteen Bodies, Plane Wreckage Found Near Tanzania

Yemenia Air Black Boxes Too Deep for Divers

Sub Reports Signal from Yemenia Black Boxes

Sole Survivor of '71 Jungle Crash Recounts Ordeal
NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
Other Sites We Like:   24/7 Wall St.   |   Betty Confidential   |   BuzzFeed   |   Cracked   |   Fark   |   Timelines   |   The Frisky   |   Geek Sugar   |   NewsOne